A century in 59 balls, a first in the competition’s history. 309 runs in the tournament, the highest in the series. Player of the final match and the series. Gongadi Trisha’s Under-19 Women’s World Cup performance reads like a dream script. But it’s a dream forged in dedication, nurtured by a supportive family and now inspiring millions.
Her father, Rami Reddy, a farmer and gym coach, and her mother, Madhavi, a homemaker, played pivotal roles in her journey. Rami Reddy, in particular, even relocated from Bhadrachalam to Hyderabad for better training opportunities. “Because of him, I started playing cricket. Without him, I don’t think I would have been here,” Trisha said at the presentation ceremony after winning the tournament and dedicating the awards to her father.
Coming from a humble background, Trisha’s parents were involved in agriculture in Purushothapatnam (now in Andhra Pradesh), near Bhadrachalam. She is their only child, and they eventually settled in the temple town. Recognising her talent early, Rami Reddy, a fitness trainer, began learning about cricket when Trisha was just two and a half years old. He dedicated himself entirely to her training, taking her to junior college grounds at 5 am every day.
Trisha’s rise from Telangana’s tribal belt is a revolution. She’s proof that talent blooms in the most unlikely of soils and that behind every “overnight sensation” are years of silent toil, parental sweat and 5 am alarms.
The crests and troughs
However, the journey wasn’t always smooth. In the initial days, Rami Reddy’s relatives and colleagues used to point to the lack of opportunities for women. “They would say things like, ‘What good will cricket do for a girl? Make her study so that she can get a job and a good husband.’ However, I knew that Trisha was meant for great things. Even though I had financial issues, I sold some properties to help her pursue cricket,” her father tells TNIE.
The taunts became amplified when Trisha went unsold for the recent edition of WPL. Questions were also raised about her fitness and mental fortitude. However, all the criticism went silent when her exploits helped India continue its rich vein of form in the two-edition-long tournament. Trisha was named both Player of the Match and Player of the Series in the World Cup. She scored 110 runs off just 59 balls and took three crucial wickets against Scotland, making history as the first player to score a century in the tournament. With a total of 309 runs throughout the series, she scored the most runs.
On the WC win, Rami Reddy says: “Trisha has made me incredibly proud. I was deeply moved when she dedicated her victory to me. All my hardships faded away in that moment.”
Speaking to TNIE over the phone, Trisha says her sights are now set on the senior Indian team and bringing home the senior women’s World Cup.
Now a household name across the world, Trisha, cricket’s newest sensation, fresh from scripting history at the U-19 Women’s World Cup in Malaysia, isn’t just breaking records — she’s rewriting destiny.