During her college days, Kiran Prabhu Navgire was into observe and area. She gained round 100 medals in several athletics occasions, together with a javelin gold in 2011-12 inter-varsity video games. Cricket was her second sport, even though, whereas rising up, her idol was MS Dhoni.
It was solely in 2016, on the age of twenty-two, that she realised her potential in cricket. Now 5 years down the road, she was named within the T20I squad for subsequent month’s ladies’s tour of England. “She was playing a university game at Azam Sports Academy in Pune. I saw her smashing sixes for fun. Her power-hitting left me amazed. I and our president Dr PA Inamdar went to her after the match and asked her at which club she is training,” her coach Gulzar Sheikh tells Indian Express.
Inamdar and Shaikh have been gobsmacked with Kiran’s reply. “She said, koi club nahi hai sir, fun ke liye khelti hoon. Mujhe athletics mey kuch karna hai, waise bhi cricket kaafi costly game hai. (I don’t represent any club. I play cricket for fun. I want to do something in athletics because cricket is very costly,” remembers Shaikh.
Kiran Prabhu Navgire in motion. (BCCI)
“After listening to Kiran, I looked at Inamdar sir and we both said at the same moment ‘Isko khud ke potential ka nahi maloom’ (She doesn’t realise her own potential),” says Shaikh, who’s Kiran’s first coach. Kiran agreed to take cricket severely solely after Inamdar and Shaikh informed her that she gained’t need to pay a single penny. “She comes from a very humble background. Back in Solapur, her parents are farmers. We told her that everything will be taken care of. You just come and play cricket at our academy,” says Shaikh.
A transfer to Nagaland
In 2016-17, she made 429 runs in 5 matches at an annual event organised by the Pune District Cricket Association. In 2017, she received chosen for the Maharashtra workforce however quickly made a transfer to Nagaland, which turned out to be a life-changing determination for her.
In 2022, Senior Women’s T20 Trophy, she was the highest scorer within the event with 525 runs, together with 162 of 76 balls in opposition to Arunachal. She is the one Indian man or girl to attain over 150 in a T20 match. After Kiran, the subsequent finest batter have been Yastika Bhatia (325 runs) and Shafali Verma (303 runs).
Kiran single-handedly took Nagaland to the quarterfinals, the place she scored 56 in opposition to Kerala, her fourth half-century, however ended up on a shedding facet.
Women’s T20 problem
Her six-hitting prowess received her picked for the Velocity within the Women’s T20 Challenge. Batting at 3, Kiran smoked a 34-ball 69, together with 5 sixes and 5 fours. Kiran teed off with a slog-swept six over deep midwicket in opposition to Salma Khatun, a Bangladesh worldwide.
In 2016-17, she made 429 runs in 5 matches at an annual event organised by the Pune District Cricket Association. (BCCI)
“She is a natural power-hitter. I don’t know the exact reason but she once told me that her strength comes from helping out on her family’s farm as a child and from the variety of sports she played growing up. She used to throw shot put and javelin, maybe that’s the secret of her power-hitting,” says Shaikh.
“She is a big MS Dhoni fan. Every day at the nets, she would try to imitate that 2011 World Cup-winning six, smashed by Dhoni,” laughs Shaikh. Her strokeplay received Kiran recognition however then got here the truth examine within the subsequent match. Kiran received a 13-ball duck, and was hit on the helmet by Deandra Dottin.
“Just cricket happened to her in the second game. A reality check for her that every day she can’t hit sixes for fun. That zero changed her mental approach towards the game,” says Shaikh. “Post Women’s T20 challenge, she started thinking like a professional. Earlier, she used to do one net session, but now from 4:30 am to 10 pm, she would be at the academy. She will eat in the canteen only.”
“This tour will be a big learning curve for her, and hopefully, she will get a game to showcase her talent,” he indicators off.
