BENGALURU: Simran Shaikh is a "bindhast" person. A proper Bambaiya cricketer. A player with whom you can have an evening tea and talk about the game for hours. But don't let her laid-back attitude fool you. When it comes to her cricket, she is as focused as one can be. Sunetra Paranjpe, current head coach of Mumbai women's team can attest to that.
"Way back, in her U19 days, we worked together and I saw the special talent in her in terms of six-hitting capacity," Paranjpe, who is currently with Mumbai's senior side in Ahmedabad for the Senior Women's One Day Championship told this daily.
"That time I thought she would make it big, but she needed to develop her game as she progressed. And she has worked hard for this. She had a few bad years under her belt, but she has learned from those mistakes. I hope she has the best season in the WPL," she added. As three of Paranjpe's current wards - Shaikh, Prakashika Naik and Jagravi Pawar - are set to join their respective Women's Premier League franchises, she is one happy coach at the moment.
Born and raised in Mumbai's Dharavi slums, Shaikh was picked up by the UP Warriorz in the first season of WPL, but a poor run in the inaugural outing saw her getting released by the franchise. With no performance to show in either the franchise competition or the domestic season for Mumbai, Shaikh had to work hard. And that she did.
In the domestic T20 season that included the Senior T20 Trophy, which Mumbai won for the second time in a row, Shaikh played her role to the perfection as Mumbai lifted the Trophy at their home ground in Wankhede Stadium. However, in the Challenger Trophy that followed in Ranchi, the Mumbai batter scored runs with a strike rate of 200 and helped Team E clinch the title. That changed everything.
Michael Klinger, Head Coach of Gujarat Giants knew how important a player of that caliber could be for the Giants after the disappointment of the first two seasons. While they certainly did not expect the intense bidding war for her, the Giants were ready to pay the amount.
"Leading into the auction, we probably didn't think she would go that high, but she was the player of interest for us," Klinger told the media. "In particular because of her power-hitting and strike rate this season. We have seen her in the recent Challenger Trophy, her strike rate was over 200, which is rare in women's cricket. We were looking for someone to bring power to our squad and she was that player," he added.
Gujarat were confident to have her on their side that they were ready to pay Shaikh more than West Indies superstar Deandra Dottin and in the end they did. They bought Shaikh for Rs 1.90 crore.
"We didn't bid for anyone else other than those two we got. They were the exact two players we wanted to get in the first two sets. They are the batters who have a lot of power and it compliments the rest of our squad. We were looking for two power-hitters and we got them. I am not worried about the price tag, it is the skill set that we needed and we are really happy with that," Klinger was beaming ear to ear talking about his latest acquisitions.
While Paranjpe still needs her players to concentrate on the match Mumbai is scheduled to play on Monday, she had a small update on Shaikh. "She was really happy." And why wouldn't she? The girl who grew up in Dharavi set the WPL auction on fire on Sunday in Bengaluru.