Mountain View

Overview

Jhulan Nishit Goswami (born 25 November 1982) is an all round cricketer and former captain of India national women’s cricket team.[1][2] In August 2018, she announced her retirement from WT20Is.

An integral part of the team, Goswami is noted for both her batting and bowling (right arm medium) capabilities. She has a Test bowling average of less than 20. In the 2006-07 season she guided the Indian team to first test series win in England.

She won the ICC Women’s Player of the Year 2007 and the M.A. Chidambaram trophy for Best Women Cricketer in 2011.[3]Recently[when?] she is no longer the captain of the Indian Women’s Cricket team. She is succeeded by Mitali Raj. Goswami was first in ICC Women’s ODI bowling rankings (January 2016). Goswami is the leading wicket taker (200) in the history of women ODI cricket.

She was also the fastest playing bowler in world women cricket after Cathryn Fitzpatrick retired.[4]

Goswami is the highest wicket taker in Women’s One Day International cricket.[5] In February 2018, against South Africa, she became the first bowler to take 200 wickets in WODIs.[6] She achieved this by taking the wicket of South Africa opener Laura Wolvaardt during the second one-day game of the three-match series at Kimberley.[7] In April 2018, she had an Indian postage stamp issued in her honour.[8]

Early life

Jhulan Goswami (Babul/Gozzy-nickname[citation needed]) was born in Nadia district of West Bengal on 25 November 1982. She belongs to a middle-class family in Chakdaha, a small town in Nadia, West Bengal.[9] She took up cricket at the age of 15.[10] Before taking up cricket, she was a fan of football.[11] Her first encounter with cricket was in 1992 when she watched the 1992 Cricket World Cup on TV and she was charmed by Belinda Clark‘s victory lap after Australia vs New Zealand 1997 Womens World Cup final live at the stadium.[11] Goswami’s parents wanted her to concentrate more on studies rather than cricket.[10] Goswami did not stop. As she realised that her love for cricket grew, she took further steps for cricket training. As her hometown did not have any cricket facilities at that time, she had to travel to Kolkata.[3] Her education and cricket made her schedule very busy yet she continued her hard work.[3] She is also a movie-buff and book-worm besides being a cricketer.[10]

Career

Since her teens, she worked hard for cricket. She did her cricket training in Kolkata. Soon, she made her entry in the Bengal cricket team.[9] At the age of 19, she made her India debut in 2002 in an one-day International Match against England in Chennai.[9] Her Test International debut was on 14 January 2002 against England in Lucknow and her T20 debut  was on 2006 in Derby.

Goswami along with Mithali Raj guided Indian Womens Cricket team to first Test series win England in 2006-07 season.[12] During the same season, Goswami helped Indian Women Cricket team to get their first victory against England, making a fifty as nightwatchman in the first Test at Leicester and taking her career best match figures of 10 for 78-5 for 33 and 5 for 45 – in the second test at Taunton.[13] In 2007 Jhulan was a member of Asian squad in the Afro-Asia tournament in India and also won the ICC Womens Cricketer of the Year[12] (when no Indian male cricketer bagged an individual award).[13]

Later in 2008, she took over the captaincy from Mithali Raj and held till 2011.[9] In 2008, she also became the fourth woman to reach 100 wickets in ODIs at Asia Cup.[13] She led India in 25 ODIs.[12] In 2010 she was awarded the Arjun Award[12] and in 2012 she became second Indian women cricketer to receive Padma Shri after Diana Edulji.[9]

She has 40 Test wickets in her name in 10 matches. Overall she has 271 international wickets in 223 games and has scored 1593 runs with three 50s.[12] She is the highest wicket taker in WODIs going past Australian Cathryn Fitzpatrick record of 180 wickets.[14] She achieved the feat during the Womens Quadrangular Series in South Africa. On 7 February 2018 Jhulan became the first woman cricketer to reach 200 wickets in one day cricket. She has 200 wickets in 166 matches at an average of 21.76 with two 5 wickets and 4 four wickets hauls.[12] In ODIs she has 995 runs in 166 matches.[11] In 2011 where India failed to win, she took 6 for 31 against New Zealand.[9] She also has 50 wickets in 60 20-20 Internationals.

In May 2017, Goswami became the leading wicket-taker in ODIs when she took her 181st wicket against South Africa at PUK Oval, Potchefstroom, surpassing Australia’s Cathryn Fitzpatrick.[15][16]

Goswami was part of the Indian team to reach the final of the 2017 Women’s Cricket World Cup where the team lost to England by nine runs.[17][18][19]

Jhulan Goswami said on 19 September 2017 that a biopic on her is in the making with the working title Chakdaha Express. The biopic will be directed by Sushanta Das, it will trace Goswami’s journey from the Vivekananda Park nets in Kolkata to the Lord’s cricket ground in London, where India lost the World Cup final against England in July.[20]

In September 2018, against Sri Lanka, she took her 300th wicket in international cricket.[21]

Coaching Career

She was appointed as a bowling consultant for India women’s national cricket team. She was playing as a player-coach.

Awards, Honors and Titles”] The President, Pratibha Patil presenting the Padma Shri Award to Jhulan Goswami, at an Investiture Ceremony I, at Rashtrapati Bhavan, in New Delhi on 22 March 2012

  • 2007 – ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year
  • Captain of Indian Women’s Cricket Team (2008-2011)
  • Fastest Bowler
  • 2010 – Arjuna Award
  • 2012 – Padma Shri[22]
  • Leading International Wicket Taker