Mansi hits right notes for India
A few days before she left for England, Indian pacer Mansi Joshi queued up outside a Dehradun hall to watch a movie she eagerly awaited. After all, “Sachin: Billion Dreams” was on her favourite cricketer and she couldn’t miss it, especially ahead of the Women’s World Cup. Mansi was determined to make India proud like Sachin Tendulkar had. On Sunday, the 23-year-old got a chance to play her first World Cup game, that too against Pakistan. She grabbed the chance with a fine spell of 2/9 in 6.1 overs with two maiden overs to boot.
CHASING HER DREAM
Mansi had to shift to Haryana in 2010 chasing her cricket dream Uttarakhand didn’t have a women’s cricket team. Seven years on, it made her day in Derby as she removed Asmavia Iqbal for nought and yorked Pakistan captain Sana Mir in the easy win.
“Mansi was spot on against Pakistan. She bowled the outswingers, off-cutters and the yorkers. She likes to bowl aggressively. With Jhulan (Goswami) and Shikha Pandey in the team, it becomes a bit difficult for Mansi to get a look in. But given the chance, she made full use of it. I hope she is retained in the upcoming matches too,” said Mansi’s coach, Virender Singh Rautela.
Rautela has played a big part in guiding Mansi. Although she plays for Haryana, when in Dehradun, she trains in Rautela’s academy. Rautela has worked on her strengthening and also helped improve her batting. She now opens for Haryana.
“She had an impressive build, but needed to build muscles and add pace. She would train hard and take lot of protein (mutton, milk, boiled eggs, chicken soup). The results were amazing.”
After stellar performances for Haryana and North Zone, Mansi made her T20 debut for India in Bangkok against Bangladesh in the 2016 Asia Cup.
Injuries to Jhulan and Sukanya Parida saw her inclusion in the ODI team for the World Cup qualifiers in Sri Lanka, which India won.
KISHORE KUMAR FAN
“She really took off from the qualifiers. She was seen as someone with a bright future for India. She became big in Dehradun and girls have started playing cricket seeing Mansi don India colours.”
Mansi is a Kishore Kumar fan. She relaxes by listening to Kishore numbers, mostly from Rajesh Khanna movies. “Aate Jaate Khoobsurat Awaara galliyon main, kabhi kabhi…” from the Rajesh Khanna-starrer ‘Anurodh’ is her mobile tune.
“She was initially nervous against Pakistan. But she was very excited after India won.”
Mansi is only six ODIs and one T20 old, but her spirited performances should add to India’s strong showing.