KHAMMAM: Cricket in India is predominantly a sport for the ‘gentleman’, but the recent successes of the Indian Women’s cricket team have made many young women and girls from the country realise that they can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the biggest names in world cricket and emerge victorious. A 17-year-old girl from a remote village in the Bhadrachalam Agency area is one of the many women who have been inspired by the ‘Women in Blue’ and is hoping to represent India at the Women’s U-19 Cricket World Cup in South Africa in January 2023.
Speaking to TNIE, Gongadi Trisha says she hopes to become the best player in the world and earns laurels for the Bhadrachalam Agency area. She says she was inspired by former India team captain Mithali Raj, who is leading run scorer for India across the three formats — tests, ODIs and T20Is.
Noticed talent at young age
Her father Venkata Rami Reddy, who is a farmer, tells TNIE that they noticed her interest and talent in cricket when Trisha was only two-and-a-half years old and encouraged her to pursue the sport. He was also her first coach who gave wings to her dreams despite not being financially stable. “Though I am not financially well-off, I sold some properties to help her pursue cricket,” he adds.
Rami Reddy had tried his hand at cricket as well but failed to make a career out of it. After noticing Trisha’s potential, he enrolled her on the Coaching Beyond Academy in Hyderabad. The coach, R Sridhar, says Trisha has skills and talents that can see her not only become a good prospect for the Indian team but also climb to the top of world cricket.
She is one of the 25 young women selected for training at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru for the upcoming U-19 World Cup. She represented India-B at the Senior Women Challengers Tournament 2021-2022 held at Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, apart from U19 Women Cricket Challengers 2021-2022, where she ended the tournament with the highest runs under her belt with 260 runs. She also participated in the BCCI Senior Women’s One-Tay tournament (Elite Group C) at Cuttack in Odisha, which was held in December 2018. She also took part in many national-level tournaments where she earned several medals and trophies.