On the verge of entering the 100-wickets club in women’s cricket, lanky Indian pacer Jhulan Goswami says she is enjoying her new-found fame that has come with winning the ICC Player of the Year award.

She needs just four wickets in her games against Pakistan and Sri Lanka in next week’s Asia Cup to pass this mark. “There is a lot of expectation,” admits Goswami.

“Back home, people are watching me quite carefully because every match they expect five wickets which is not easy. I want to enjoy my game and play my best cricket,” she said.

“I find if I go to the cinema, people say ‘it’s Jhulan Goswami who won the ICC Award’. That is very nice, as it hadn’t happened before, and people had never recognised me because of cricket,” she added.

“It’s good that women players are getting recognised now in India and not just the men.” Goswami heads into the Asia Cup with her side determined to continue its record of winning the event every time they have played in it so far.

“This is a great opportunity to be the four-time champions. We want to win this tournament and do well. It’s the first tournament after the Quandrangular Series last year and we are going to approach the World Cup step by step from now on,” said the 24-year-old. “This is a good event to give some of our players confidence by doing well at the international level.”