Prior to leaving for the ICC women’s World Cup campaign in the year 2020, I had expressed my view to Rahul Dravid, (who was the Head of cricket then) that we needed to start a focused program to unearth fast bowing talent. Dravid agreed that it was a sound idea, and I had even started working out a plan for the program. However, trouble started brewing even as we entered the Australian shores as there were some reports of a deadly virus likely to wreak havoc on mankind. As the World celebrated the arrival of the year 2020, even those with a 20/20 vision or the best soothsayers could not have envisaged the tragedy that was awaiting to unfold in the World around March. The women’s day proved to be a very disappointing day for the women in blue as Australia outplayed them in front of a record crowd of around 84,000 people at the MCG.

While the team was unlucky on the day it mattered, they were lucky enough to arrive in India a few days or maybe even hours before the country began to shut down! The coronavirus had gained momentum and had resulted in the death of millions across the World. After considerable deliberations by renowned experts in the fields of medicine and science, they advised the leaders across the Globe to shut the borders. No ingress nor egress, both domestically and internationally. In such a situation, it was curtains for a lot of well thought out schemes and plans in every sphere of life. This unfortunately included our focused program to unearth fast bowlers in women’s cricket. It would take around two and a half years before the World started to crawl back to some semblance of normalcy.

So, the Indian team had to wait, hoping that the key decision makers would address the dearth in fast bowling at the opportune time. Jhulan Goswami, the spearhead of the Indian pace bowling department hung her boots in September 2022 leaving a huge void that may never be filled. In the meanwhile, yours truly was replaced by Romesh Powar as the Head Coach, Rahul Dravid moved on to become the Head Coach of the Indian men’s team. VVS Laxman, Dravid’s comrade in arms took over as the Head of cricket after much persuasion by the BCCI bigwigs. The change of guard in key positions meant that it will be a longer wait for the aspiring fast bowlers before they were spotted.

The one crucial development was the start of the Women’s Premier League in the summer of 2023. Curiously enough, the ICC had conducted the inaugural U-19 World Cup for women in January 2023. These two high profile events were expected to throw up new talent in the years to come. As expected, India found a highly promising fast bowler in Titas Sadhu, who made a huge impact in the inaugural U-19 World Cup. That she came from Bengal, a state that had given Jhulan Goswami was only a coincidence.

The WPL started off with great fanfare and publicity, but they were mandatory requirements in more ways than one. The marquee event for the women is into its third season, and it was great to see a lot of medium pacers coming to the fore in this edition. Kashvee Gautam, Saima Thakor, Amanjot Kaur & Kranti Goud to name a few, have been impressive. I am basically not going by numbers, but the spark in them is encouraging enough. This was the fillip that women’s cricket in India needed as they were yearning for more options for too long a time. Kashvee Gautam can make the ball swing into the right handers quite a bit which is a great advantage. Generally, the in-swing bowlers have been successful in women’s cricket. Amanjot Kaur is another competitive bowler who can develop into a very useful all-rounder. She bowls with a lot of imagination and is a useful striker of the cricket ball…

Saima Thakor is not quick by any means but makes the ball swing and can pick up wickets. She has been performing for her State quite consistently along with Sayali Sathgare. Kranti Goud likes to work up pace, but she needs to work on skills like changing pace, varying the length according to the pitches and develop Yorkers too. It is all about gaining experience and seeking knowledge while playing with the best in the business. While these relatively inexperienced bowlers have impressed, the likes of Arundathi Reddy and Shikha Pandey have repeatedly shown that they have what it takes to perform in fiercely competitive tournaments featuring the creme de le creme.. Inexplicably, some indifferent treatment has been meted out to both of them by the decision makers.

Now that the fast bowlers have begun to emerge, the foremost question is what needs to be done with them? The functional coaches with the Indian team and at the NCA will no doubt be guiding and monitoring them constantly, the fast bowlers would also need the help of someone like Jhulan Goswami to mentor them. She will be a great inspiration to the younger girls and she has been mentoring different sides since her retirement. Bengal women teams have done well since she has been involved with them and of course, she has been a part of Mumbai Indians from the start of the WPL. The BCCI needs to think of utilizing her expertise as a mentor at least for the ICC events. She may not transfer her skills to the current lot, but her insights in key moments will make a huge difference. Will we see Jhulan Goswami in blue playing a different role sooner than later? Only time will tell.