Thakur shines bright in India's three-wicket loss

As soon as Renuka Singh Thakur completed her quota of four overs in India's opening game at the Commonwealth Games against Australia, the Indian fans began chanting her name at the Edgbaston Cricket Ground. The 26-year-old medium-pacer, who hails from Himachal Pradesh, could not help but smile back. After all, she had accounted for Alyssa Healy, Beth Mooney, Meg Lanning, and Tahila McGrath, and her thrill was apparent.

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At this point, the beaming fans along with the Indian team knew that the dream spell of 4-0-18-4 had swung the match in their favour. The reigning T20 and ODI world champions were reeling at 34/4 in 4.1 overs in their chase of 155. More pressure mounted on Australia when off-spinner Deepti Sharma removed Rachel Haynes for nine runs, reducing Australia to 49/5.

But then there was a twist in the tale as Ashleigh Gardner turned the tables around for Australia. Other Indian bowlers let Thakur’s effort go to waste as Australia, led by experienced Gardner’s unbeaten 35-ball 52 runs, achieved their target with three wickets in hand and six balls to spare.

After Thakur ran havoc through the Australia top-order, it was Gardner and Grace Harris who got together to stitch a match-winning partnership of 51 runs that laid the foundation of Australia’s successful chase.

“We believed with 154 runs we could win the match but it was unfortunate to lose. Getting Healy’s wicket in the very first over was very encouraging. I bowled to the field and got her out. I enjoyed getting McGrath's wicket the most,” said Thakur after the game.

Thakur had come into the India team replacing Shikha Pandey against Australia last year in the T20 series. Since then, she has been slowly and steadily making an impact with her swing bowling.

Like most women cricketers, Thakur started through ‘gully’ cricket with cousins and brother Vinod in her village Parsa in Shimla district. In 1999 when she was three, her father died of jaundice. He was employed with the Himachal Pradesh Irrigation and Public health department. His death meant that the family’s responsibility fell on Thakur’s mother Sunita, who joined the department in 2000.

“My mother and my uncle encouraged me to pursue cricket and I joined the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Residential Academy in Dharamsala in 2010. After that I never looked back,” added Thakur, who impressed bowling against Sri Lanka in the recent T20 and ODI series as well.

“I have become quite famous in my village ever since I started playing for India. I receive a lot of love from my village,” said Thakur.

She has been training hard on her fitness, bowling at hard length, and working on her swing. “In the last few months, I have worked on my speed, agility, and on my swing. We had a fitness camp in Bengaluru before coming to England. It was very useful,” said Thakur, who joined the Railways in 2021.

With medium-pacer Pooja Vastrakar still doubtful for the next tie against arch-rivals Pakistan on July 31, it looks like Thakur will have to take more responsibility on her shoulders with the new ball.

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