When the lights are at their brightest, the Indian ladies’s cricket crew has all the time danced on the fringe of glory. Sometimes it managed to face up to intense strain and not using a scratch, and at different occasions it discovered itself in quicksand. At Lord’s in 2017, it was a partnership away from the trophy. Similar tales made headlines in 2014, 2016, 2020, and, extra just lately, in 2024 as nicely.
While setbacks are the testomony of sporting occasions, additionally they provide a mirror for self-reflection and introspection. Countless deep dives into India’s losses typically pointed to a deficiency in depth. Too typically, the burden of taking the crew dwelling rested on the shoulders of just some.
The Indian crew of the current operates in the age of all-rounders. Look at Australia’s stacked multi-skilled participant piles. From Ellyse Perry to Annabel Sutherland, these ladies not solely contribute throughout departments but additionally have the nerve to tilt video games favourably.
Nagging concern
For India, this has been a nagging concern. The setup has, for a very long time, struggled to flood the crew with gamers who can strike with the ball and rating invaluable runs, and, most significantly, accomplish that persistently.
Among the a number of different positives in India’s current white-ball collection win in opposition to England was the emergence of 1 such all-rounder who may maintain the key to the steadiness points the India XI faces — Amanjot Kaur.
Born in Chandigarh, the nation’s powerhouse for hockey gamers, the 25-year-old selected to ditch custom to pursue her calling. Her cricketing journey started early, when she performed the recreation in the streets with older boys from the neighbourhood. Her father, a carpenter by occupation, was hesitant to let her play cricket. It was Amanjot’s grandmother who took her to follow each day.
“My grandmother was very supportive. She used to accompany me to the ground and wait by the bench,” she mentioned in an interview with Anjum Chopra.
Not lengthy after seeing Amanjot’s immense curiosity in the sport, her father got here round and drove her to the academy each day, typically even ready on the sidelines whereas she practised in the chilling winters of Chandigarh.
She skilled below Nagesh Gupta at the Government Model Senior Secondary School, Chandigarh, from the age of 15. That proved pivotal for Amanjot because it was Nagesh who promoted her improvement as a batter.
She shuttled between Chandigarh and Punjab in her teenage years, ultimately making her debut for the latter in the 2017-2018 season. Following that, she shifted to the former for the 2019-2020 marketing campaign earlier than making her approach again to Punjab for the 2022-2023 season to problem herself in a squad that featured India internationals like Harmanpreet Kaur and Taniya Bhatia.
Amanjot proved that she was very a lot as much as the activity, rising as Punjab’s prime run-getter in the senior ladies’s T20 match, with 192 runs in six innings at a strike fee of 105.49.
The alternative to make a case for herself as a traditional batter got here in opposition to Himachal, when she opened the innings for Punjab and made her mark.
“Being an all-rounder is bliss for me. If batting doesn’t go well, then while I’m bowling, I have six balls to prove. Even if two balls go for six, there are still four more balls,” she mentioned.
She earned her nationwide call-up in 2023, making her debut in the first match of the tri-series in opposition to South Africa in East London. She seized the day along with her batting prowess, leaving a right away mark by scoring an unbeaten 41 (30 balls) whereas batting at no. 7.
It was a time when gamers worldwide had been giving their remaining auditions to make the nationwide squads for the T20 World Cup in South Africa. Amanjot was sensible and targeted on every day because it got here.
She scored an unbeaten 41 in 30 balls, the second-highest rating in ladies’s cricket for India on T20I debut. Amanjot helped India get a reasonably first rate 147 for the lack of six wickets on the board, heartening given India misplaced three early wickets.
Since then, Amanjot has featured in 9 T20Is and 16 WODIs, completely satisfied to drift round the batting order and wanting to show that she can also be a bowler who could make an influence in any section of the recreation. That she was useful in the discipline – one other Achilles heel for India – solely added to her utility.
In the just lately concluded T20I collection in opposition to England, she smashed 63 n.o. off 40 balls whereas batting at no. 5, together with 5 fours and two sixes at a strike fee of 157. While it was only one match the place she displayed her batting aggression, her fashion is headlined by exact calculation and phlegmatic temperament.
In the second T20I at Bristol, Amanjot, opposite to the earlier video games the place she toggled between no. 6 and no. 7, got here in at no. 5 when India was reeling at 35 for 3. She took the assault to the English bowlers, smashing three fours off Sophie Ecclestone. Amanjot stitched essential partnerships with Richa Ghosh and noticed India by way of to 181 for 4.
Amanjot’s worth lies in her adaptability. She may be cautious and regular or aggressive, as required. Her fluency with the bat permits India the luxurious of solidity in a shaky center order.
The real all-rounder justifies her title additional along with her right-arm medium tempo bowling throughout the center overs to stifle the scores and break partnerships. But Amanjot in the England collection has a commendable batting file that stood higher than her bowling figures, barring her ODI debut in opposition to Bangladesh in 2023, when she added 4 wickets for 31 runs in her spell.
In Pooja Vastrakar’s absence, Amanjot has emerged as somebody who may fill in with bat and ball.
Similarities
While she remains to be in the early years of her profession and Perry, on the opposite, is a longtime participant, there are similarities between the two that make Amanjot the reply to India’s quest for somebody like the Australian, who can add the vital depth and supply a powerful center order in the line-up. But the echoes of one in all the best all-rounders in current ages come alive a bit each time Amanjot dons the function of each a batter and a bowler, and does so with grace.
While Amanjot won’t but have numbers to make the headlines at the second, each as soon as in some time, when a brand new participant emerges, the talent of the thoughts and the physique should be recognized, skilled and appreciated at the daybreak of their profession.
And the comparisons to Perry? It may appear lofty now. But if Amanjot retains her tempo, possibly, simply possibly, there’ll come a day after we will ask, “Could she be the next Perry?”
