Attracted to the game at a fairly young age, Jhulan played tennis-ball cricket with the boys in her neighbourhood in what was most definitely a cricketing outpost. “I wanted to bowl, but the boys said you are just a girl, go and bat. That spurred me on, I was determined to show them that a girl could bowl, and bowl fast too,” Jhulan said.
And can she! Regularly touching the 120-kmph mark, she is among the fastest bowlers in women’s international cricket. “My parents were very apprehensive initially about a girl playing cricket. Women’s cricket in India wasn’t all that popular then, and not many had heard in my village that women even played cricket. That’s when my first coach, Swapan Sadhu, stepped in.
“Not only did he convince my parents that women can play cricket, but he assured them that I had a future as a potential Indian cricketer. He was the one who took me to Kolkata when I was only 14 years old. He sought out a place where women played proper cricket, and I joined that camp. That was how my initiation into cricket began. Whatever I am today is only because of Swapan Sadhu. Today, my parents are proud of their fact that their daughter is representing the country,” added Jhulan, herself looking no less proud.
In the period between August 9, 2006 and August 8, 2007 — the Awards period, so to say — Jhulan averaged 12.40 in Tests and 21.80 in one-day internationals. Her crowning glory was the ten-wicket haul in the Taunton Test, powering India to their first Test win on English soil.
Good for the game
“This award will do a lot for women’s cricket in India. We are getting more and more coverage now in the media.
“That can only be good for game as it encourages more girls to take up cricket and improves the overall levels of performance,” Jhulan added.
It is a sign of the times that Jhulan wasn’t overawed at receiving the award from Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the Indian Twenty20 captain. “It felt good to receive it from the Indian captain,” Jhulan conceded. “We both play the same game, and we are both active players.” It will be gross injustice to the likes of Shanta Rangaswamy and Diana Eduljee to suggest that Indian women’s cricket has arrived, but there is no denying the fact that Jhulan Goswami has given it a whole new dimension now.