ICC Women's World Cup: Here are 5 things you must know about Karnataka girls Veda and Rajeshwari
- Rajeshwari Gayakwad and Veda Krsihnamurthy hail from humble towns in Karnataka but went on to carve their own niche in cricket
- Rajeshwari's 5 wicket haul against New Zealand has impressed her. She is the first woman cricketer to have reached this far from Vijayapura
- Veda is often referred as Rohit Sharma for her batting style. She hails from Kadur in Chikmagaluru district.
FollowAs Indian's women cricket team is soaking up their massive win (265/7) against New Zealand (79/10) at Derby in England to seal their place in the semi-finals for the ICC Women's World Cup, Karnataka is also on a celebratory mode as two cricketers in the squad are from the state. Meet bowler Rajeshwari Gayakwad who took her career-best five wickets and Vidya Krishnamurthy who smashed 70 off 45 balls that steered their team to win.
Here are five things you must not miss about Karnataka girls - Rajeshwari and Veda.
Rajeshwari Gayakwad/Picture courtesy Icc-cricket.com
Rajeshwari Gayakwad
1. Rajeshwari Gayakwad, who hails from Vijayapura of Hyderabad-Karnataka region is the first from woman cricketer from this district to have reached this far. Rajeshwari started her cricketing career when she was in class 11.
2. Rajeshwari's father Shivanand, a government primary school teacher, did not hesitate to encourage his daughter's talent and supported her all through. In fact, cricket was not her first choice. She was good at javelin and discuss throw.
3. According to Yahoo Cricket, Rajeshwari's talent was first noticed by Basavaraj Ijeri, the head of the women's wing at Bijapur and Rajeshwari began her professional career with Bijapur Women's Cricket Club in 2007.
4. The Saturday's match was her debut performance in the World Cup and she impressed everyone with her five wickets.
5. A left-arm orthodox bowler was called in to replace another fantastic bowler Ekta Bisht. Gayakwad utilised her every given opportunity and is a hero today.
Veda Krsihnamurthy
1. Veda Krishnamurthy hails from Kadur taluk in Chikamgaluru district and is the youngest among the four siblings. She was introduced to cricket where cricket facility for girls was absolutely unheard of.
2. According to Cricbuzz.com, Veda would tag along with her brother, who was 14 years elder to her to play gully cricket with him. This helped her in honing the skills.
3. Her father would woke her up every morning and took her to Karate classes. It is reported that Veda's elder sister apparently convinced other parents in the locality to send their kids to karate classes so that Veda had the motivation to go. She holds a black belt.
4. Her chance to participate in a camp at Bengaluru proved worth. From here, she began her cricketing journey at a very young age. After the Karnataka U-19 team's win at the South Zone Inter-state Cup, Veda - at 17 - was included in the seniors state team was made the deputy captain. And in 2011, she got a berth in India's 15-member squad for England for the quadrangular series.
5. She is often referred as Rohit Sharma for her batting style and is also regarded as heartbeat of the dressing room. Her fluency in Kannada has been lapped up by the internet users after video of her speaking in Kannada to help her mate Rajeshwari in translating the interviewer's questions after the New Zealand match.
