Pace-bowling all-rounder Arundhati Reddy picked up her maiden ODI wicket on Wednesday at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru against South Africa when she bowled Tazmin Brits’ middle stump with a peach of a ball. This match is part of a multi-format series between the two countries.
Moreover, Arundhati was handed her maiden ODI debut ahead of the match against the Proteas, marking her return to international cricket after a gap of three years.
Watch her maiden ODI wicket here:
Arundhati, hailing from Hyderabad, has grown up with the bat and ball in her hands, having been a part of cricketing circuits in her home city since she was 12.
It was in the domestic circuit with the Railways that Arundhati turned some heads and made selectors take some notes. It isn’t coincidental that the season (2017-18) in which the bowling allrounder debuted for Railways that she was called up for her maiden T20i for India. Her India debut was in 2018 against Sri Lanka in Katunayake, in which she even picked up her first wicket international wicket.
However, her career graph started to drop and hurtling towards a standstill after dropping out of favour at the Railways and Covid-19 pandemic that gripped the globe.
It was the introduction of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) and the memory of an old admirer-turned-coach in Biju George that gave Arundhati a new lease of life in cricket. It was on his advice that the player shifted domestic bases from Railways to Kerala.
In the WPL, she was recruited by Biju for the Delhi Capitals. In the inaugural season, Arundhati had just managed to pick up two wickets. It was in the second edition that a reinvented Arundhati found her footing and finished the season with eight wickets.
After the 2024 WPL, the player took part in some red ball cricket, playing for the South Zone and notching up commendable performances with the bat. All of Arundhati’s recent performances, either in the domestic circuit or at the Inter-Zonal level, have culminated in her being called up for the ongoing multi-format series against South Africa.
With the 2025 ODI World Cup in India less than a year away and Arundhati already underway with her scalps, the allrounder will be looking to be a mainstay in the team and feature at the upcoming ICC tournament.
Comments
SHARE