Sunita Sharma is reportedly India's first woman cricket coach and a former cricketer. Having trained dozens of first-class and international cricketers, she received the Dronacharya Award in 2005.
Sunita Sharma is reportedly India's first woman cricket coach and a former cricketer. Having trained dozens of first-class and international cricketers, she received the Dronacharya Award in 2005.
A sports fan from childhood, Sharma played kho kho at the national level before gradually developing interest in cricket. Having lost her father at age four, it was her mother who advised her to take up the relatively more popular sport of cricket so that she could make a career out of it. Sharma soon rose up the ranks as a medium pace bowler and was selected in the national team. [1] She claims that despite being part of the playing eleven of a Test match against Australia in 1975 she was left out on the morning of the match. [2]
Noticing her lack of interest in academics, Sharma's mother enrolled her into a cricket coaching programme in Janki Devi Memorial College in Delhi. [3] In 1976, she became the first woman to receive a coaching diploma from the National Institute of Sports in Patiala. [4] According to Sharma, people were reluctant to send their children to her as they preferred male coaches but "people found out that I am equally capable as compared to my male colleagues" after one year. She credited the media who used to "write about me and appreciate my work. All that gave me enough strength to carry on initially." [3]
Over the years, Sharma coached dozens of men and women cricketers who went on to play at international and first-class level. She is reportedly India's first woman cricket coach. [2] [3] Some of her women trainees who played at the international level are Manimala Singhal, Shashi Gupta, Anju Jain, and Anjum Chopra. Between 1975 and 1990, Sharma also conducted coaching camps for international cricketers where the likes of Shantha Rangaswamy, Diana Edulji, Gargi Banerji, Sandhya Agarwal and Shubhangi Kulkarni underwent training. She was the coach of Deep Dasgupta, who played for the men's national team, since he was seven years of age. [3] Since the early-1980s, she trained Indian team probables at Sports Authority of India's National Stadium Cricket Academy in Delhi. [1] She later worked as a coach and manager of the women's national team. [5] She briefly worked on the national women's team selection committee until 2015 when the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) removed her because she had not played international cricket. [6]
In July 2002, the Women's Cricket Association of India (WCAI) recommended her for the Dronacharya Award. [7] She received the award in 2005. [8]
Mithali Dorai Raj is an Indian former cricketer who captained the India women's national cricket team from 2004 to 2022. She is the highest run-scorer in women's international cricket, and ESPN ranked her as one of the greatest female cricketers of all time. Raj has received several national and international awards, including the Wisden Leading Woman Cricketer in the World in 2017, Arjuna Award in 2003, the Padma Shri in 2015, and Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna in 2021.
Charlotte Marie Edwards is an English former cricketer and current cricket coach and commentator. She played primarily as a right-handed batter. She appeared in 23 Test matches, 191 One Day Internationals and 95 Twenty20 Internationals for England between 1996 and 2016. She played domestic cricket in England for East Anglia, Kent, Hampshire and Southern Vipers, as well as overseas for Northern Districts, Western Australia, Perth Scorchers, South Australia and Adelaide Strikers.
Anjum Chopra is an Indian cricket commentator and former cricketer. She started playing cricket at the age of 9. She played her first friendly match with the college girls' team at the inter-college level, scoring 20 runs and taking 2 wickets. Later the same year she was selected to play for New Delhi in the under−15 tournament.
Sarah Jane Taylor is an English cricketer and cricket coach. She appeared in 10 Test matches, 126 One Day Internationals and 90 Twenty20 Internationals for England between 2006 and her retirement from international cricket in 2019 due to an anxiety issue. Taylor is the fastest cricketer, male or female, to earn their first cap in all three formats of international cricket, doing so in the space of nine days against India in 2006.
Shubhangi Kulkarni is a former Indian cricketer and one of the game's most successful administrators. She received India's highest sporting honor, the Arjuna Award in 1985. She was the secretary of the Women's Cricket Association of India (WCAI) when WCAI was merged into BCCI in 2006.
Jhulan Nishit Goswami is an Indian former cricketer. She played for the India women's national cricket team from 2002 to 2022.
India has a history of sports dating back to the Vedic period. Cricket is the most popular spectator sport; it generates the highest television viewership, with the Indian Premier League (IPL) being the most-followed league in the country. Football has also gained popularity, with the Indian Super League (ISL) being the highest level of domestic football, and the national team winning multiple gold medals at the Asian and South Asian Games. Additional football accomplishments include India having reached the Groupstage of the 1960 Olympics, qualified for the 1950 FIFA World Cup, and won the SAFF Championship. Other sports include kabaddi, badminton, tennis, and athletics, with kho-kho becoming the fourth-most viewed sport. India has also had success in field hockey, winning the World Cup and multiple medals in the Olympic Games. Sports such as golf, rugby, boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts, motorsport, wrestling, and basketball are featured throughout the country.
Harmanpreet Kaur is an Indian cricketer who captains the India women's national cricket team in all formats. She plays for and captains Mumbai Indians in the Women's Premier League. She plays as an all-rounder for the Indian women's cricket team; and was awarded the Arjuna Award for Cricket in the year 2017 by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.
Mary Veronica Waldron is an Irish association football player and cricketer who has represented both the Republic of Ireland women's national football team and the Ireland women's cricket team. She has also stood as an umpire in cricket matches.
Ekta Kundansingh Bisht is an Indian cricketer. She plays as a slow left-arm orthodox bowler. She was India's first international woman cricketer from Uttarakhand. She was also the first cricketer for India to take a hat-trick in a Women's Twenty20 International match.
Sunil Dabas is a coach of national female Kabbadi team of India. Over the years, she has coached her team to win seven international gold medals, including the 2010 Asian Games and the World Cup-2012. She was awarded the Dronacharya Award in 2012, and Padma Shri in 2014 by Government of India.
Smriti Shriniwas Mandhana is an Indian cricketer who represents the Indian women's national team. She plays for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Women's Premier League (WPL). In domestic cricket, she represents the Maharashtra cricket team.
Sports in Andhra Pradesh has its own importance, where many sporting personalities were into limelight. The Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh (SAAP) undertakes the sports development activities such as construction of stadiums, establishment of sports academies and other sporting related activities. The sports infrastructure have increased tremendously by improving infrastructure in outdoor and Indoor stadiums, play fields, sports academies, sports equipments etc. Traditional sports such as kho kho, kabaddi are played mostly in Andhra Pradesh.Most sports players from Andhra pradesh represent national level competitions and very few international competitions.
Deepti Bhagwan Sharma is an Indian cricketer who plays for Bengal, Birmingham Phoenix and India. She is an all-rounder who bats left-handed and bowls right-arm off break. As of 2018, she was ranked 3rd in the top all-rounders in the ICC Cricket Rankings and had the third highest individual score by a female cricketer in ODIs.
Munish Jolly is an Indian former cricketer. He played first-class match for Bengal in 1997/98. He is in the top panel of Commentators of All India Radio and is a leading Broadcaster, Voice-over artist. He had the honour of covering Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Olympics with Star Sports and Sony Sports Network, respectively. He has delivered commentary in Cricket World Cups, Hockey World Cups, the Prestigious National Sports Award at the Durbar Hall in the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi. He was chosen to do live commentary of swearing-in-ceremony of Honourable President of India in 2017 for All India Radio. He is also a Radio Jockey with FM Rainbow Delhi. He was part of the chosen panel of anchors to present the Commemoration Ceremony of India's first National War Memorial, Delhi on 25 February 2019, graced by the honourable Prime Minister of India, Sh. Narendra Modi.
Nuzhat Masih Parween is an Indian cricketer who plays as a wicket-keeper. Domestically, she plays for Railways in the Women's Senior One Day Trophy and Women's Senior T20 Trophy. A multi-talented athlete, she is a former football captain of the Madhya Pradesh under-16 football team, she joined Singrauli's district cricket team in 2011. She made her debut for the Indian national team in November 2016, in a Twenty20 International series against the West Indies.
Tarak Sinha was an Indian cricket coach who ran the Sonnet Cricket Club in Delhi. In a coaching career that spanned over fifty years, he coached over 12 cricketers who went on to play international cricket for India and more than 100 first-class cricketers. Some of his famous students included Ashish Nehra, Aakash Chopra, Rishabh Pant, Shikhar Dhawan and Anjum Chopra. He also briefly served as the coach of the India women's national cricket team between 2001 and 2002.
Gurcharan Singh is an Indian cricket coach and former first-class cricketer. He coached 12 international and over 100 first-class cricketers, and is the second cricket coach to be awarded the Dronacharya Award. He was also awarded the fourth highest civilian award Padma Shri by the Indian government.
The Women's Cricket Association of India (WCAI) was the national governing body of women's cricket in India. It was founded in 1973 at Pune, Maharashtra. It was merged into the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in 2007. Premala Chavan, a Member of Parliament was its first president.