New delhi date. 24 September 2022 Saturday
Chakda Express i.e. India's legendary cricketer Jhulan Goswami will play his last match at Lord's on Saturday. After which he will say goodbye to international cricket but this journey of cricket, Zunoon and Lagan is more than two decades old.
Eden Garden is the mecca of cricket in India. On December 29, 1997, there was great excitement in the Maidan. The match between New Zealand and Australia was going on in the final of the Women's Cricket World Cup. Australia's Belinda Clarke was hitting four sixes all around. Also in that final match was a 15-year-old Indian girl from a village in Bengal who was on ball girl duty.
Today, after a long career of 20 years, he is retiring. Jhulan Goswami is counted among the best women cricketers in the world. Zhulan has 253 ODI wickets to his name till 20 September before playing his last international match at Lord's.
Recalling his early days, Jhulan says, studying in Chakda, a small village in Bengal, all the youths used to play cricket in the courtyard of the house, as is often the case in villages. I used to be their ball girl whose job was to go outside the courtyard and pick up the ball and give it to the brothers. In the afternoon, when everyone was sleeping, I used to practice alone.
The coach convinced Zhulan's family
I was ten years old. I remember watching the 1992 Men's Cricket World Cup on TV and suddenly I became interested in cricket. I still remember watching Sachin sir on TV. That Sachin-Sachin voice, which was magical. Then there was an advertisement to promote the World Cup - Brick Cricket, Sleep Cricket, Dream Cricket. Kids our age were the best inspiration.
But it was not easy to convince the village youths to let Zhulan play with them. Jhulan recalls that the youth used to say that I am a slow bowler. Also, if you want to make a place in their eyes, you have to be an all-rounder. So I also took the challenge that I can bowl fast. But there were no facilities in the village, not even coaching, so Zool started going to Calcutta from the village every day for training.
I used to get up very early in the morning by train from the village to Calcutta and after training again in the train to school in the village. Seeing my bowling and my size, the coach there told me to focus on my bowling.
Jhulan Goswami
International Debut - 6 January 2002
Youngest cricketer to take most wickets in a Test match - 2006
ICC Women's Player of the Year- 2007
Number 1 in ICC Bowler Ranking - 2017, 2019
Last International Match - 24 September 2022
Today, Jhulan is one of the fastest bowlers in the world. Jhulan, who played his first international cricket match in 2002, went ahead and became the captain of the team.
Most wickets in ODIs - 253
Total wickets in all formats - 353
Most wickets in Women's World Cup -40
Indian Team Captain - 2008
Zoolan said that the Women's Cricket Association had very little money. Girls used to travel by train to play cricket matches. Sometimes there was no reservation and there was a big kit bag. The ground we were playing on was not good either.
Not only Zoolan's teammates, but also his opponents regarded Zoolan as tough. Former Pakistan cricket captain Sana Mir has played many matches against India and faced the swing. Zoolan played only 12 Test matches and took 44 wickets as women cricketers were not allowed to play Test matches.
A few months ago, Zoolan was invited to the Eden Gardens to perform the traditional ringing ceremony for an IPL eliminator match. This is the same ground where 15-year-old Zoolan worked as a ball girl in the 1997 World Cup and Zoolan, who made her career debut against England in 2002, bid farewell to cricket by playing her last match against England at Lord's.
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