With immense protection and appropriate rules and regulations, Indian Team are all set to return in action with the Women’s T20 Challenge. The tournament is scheduled to take place in the UAE between November 4 and 9 – comprised of three teams – Supernovas, Trailblazers and Velocity. However, some new faces can be seen this time, namely Ayushi Soni, Muskan Malik, Kashvee Gautam, Anagha Murali and a few.
However, the sixteen-year-old Anagha Murali from Bangalore is still in shock the way things have changed for her all of a sudden. She is one of the youngest players named for the upcoming Women’s T20 Challenge. While speaking to Deccan Chronicle from Mumbai, where she was in mandatory quarantine, the excited youngster expressed her happiness.
“I am very happy to be part of the team consisting of many seniors. It will also help me to interact with players from other countries. It is like a dream come true for me. I want to make the most of this opportunity given to me,” she said.
Meanwhile, Anagha Murali is also a good swimmer and a Lawn Tennis player as well. She continues to swim as a cross-training sport. Interestingly, she started both swimming and Lawn Tennis before cricket.
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“I started playing Lawn Tennis when I was five years old and learnt swimming subsequently. I used to play tennis ball cricket alongside these sports from the beginning. One of my father’s friends saw me playing cricket and told my father to enrol me in formal cricket coaching,” shared Anagha.
However, it was the Heron Cricket Club’s Mr Muralidhar who first realized her capability and encouraged her to take up the game. Meanwhile, the world has been going through a tough phase with COVID-19, but Anagha Murali didn’t take a break from her practice. As soon as the lockdown was relaxed a bit, she started her practice regularly at Six Academy under the watchful eyes of the head coach, Mr Jeshwant, who has worked to improve her all-round skills.
“After I came to know about the selection, I had a couple of focused sessions at the Academy to hone my bowling, batting and fielding,” shared Anagha.
On the other hand, her father Murali Prasad has revealed her favourite cricketer and he is none other than Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja. She considers him as her idol, more so because both are left-handed.
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The Indian team have reached the UAE on Wednesday (October 21) and they will undergo a six-day quarantine period. At that time, the tests will take place too on the days one, three and five before they could join the training there. Anagha Murali will play under the Mithali Raj-led Velocity team in the Women’s T20 Challenge.
Squads of Women’s T20 Challenge:
Supernovas: Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Jemimah Rodrigues (VC), Chamari Atapattu, Priya Punia, Anuja Patil, Radha Yadav, Taniya Bhatia (WK), Shashikala Siriwardene, Poonam Yadav, Shakera Selman, Arundhati Reddy, Pooja Vastrakar, Ayushi Soni, Ayabonga Khaka, Muskan Malik
Trailblazers: Smriti Mandhana (C), Deepti Sharma (VC), Punam Raut, Richa Ghosh, D. Hemalatha, Nuzhat Parween (WK), Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Harleen Deol, Jhulan Goswami, Simaran Dil Bahadur, Salma Khatun, Sophie Ecclestone, Natthakan Chantham, Deandra Dottin, Kashvee Gautam
Velocity: Mithali Raj (C), Veda Krishnamurthy (VC), Shafali Verma, Sushma Verma (WK), Ekta Bisht, Shikha Pandey, Devika Vaidya, Sushree Dibyadarshini, Manali Dakshini, Leigh Kasperek, Danielle Wyatt, Sune Luus, Jahanara Alam, Anagha Murali, Meghna Singh
