Everyone is aware of the records and her many struggles against all odds, so I shall stick to the first time the unstoppable force of Indian cricket met the immovable object.
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Rae Bareilly, 2000.
East Zone had folded for 102 in the Chandra Tripathi Under-19 Tournament.
Opening batting for South Zone were Karu Jain and the wonderkid of Indian cricket, Mithali Raj, also captain of the side.
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Rumeli Dhar bowled the first over.
Then Bobby Dutta summoned Goswami.
"I was thinking, wow, she is an India player. That gave me a boost when I was bowling."
(source: The Fire Burns Blue)
Goswami got the yorker right.
All three stumps were knocked out by the impact.
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Mithali Raj, bowled Jhulan Goswami, no score.
It took Goswami almost two years to make her debut.
So anxious was she the night before the match that she called her Air India senior Purnima Rau.
Upon Rau's advice, she kept the Indian flag and blazer next to her pillow.
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But it did not help.
She could not sleep all night.
Anjum Chopra opted to bowl the next morning.
She had made up her mind about who her spearhead was going to be.
"Which end do you want?"
Debut. New ball. Choice of ends.
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One wicket with the new ball. Another in the 44th over. 7-0-15-2.
There was no looking back after that.
One nation. One Jhulan.
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MV Sridhar was a genius strategist, perhaps at par with Percy Fender. I wish he got more coverage.
Let me explain what I am talking about.
This took place on this day, 1997.
Before getting into what he did, let me explain what the Ranji Trophy rules used to be at that point.
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There were five zones. Three teams qualified for the Super League.
Of the six South Zone teams, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Hyderabad were the likeliest to qualify.
However, an odd win from Andhra, Kerala, or Goa changed that from time to time.
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Now for the points system.
8: outright win
5: first-innings lead in draw
3: conceding first-innings lead in draw;
2: abandoned (or no result on first innings)
0: outright defeat.
An all-rounder in every possible way. He was
- an excellent batsman
- bowled underarm lobs
- bowled roundarm fast
- kept wickets
- led England to two wins in two Tests
He also taught Ranji the leg-glance.
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The last bit was Ranji's own confession, as mentioned by CB Fry in a 1939 piece titled The Founder of Modern Batsmanship.
Read was in England's squad for the 1882-83 series, and finds a mention on the Ashes urn (check second line, third word).
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Read's most famous innings came in The Oval Test of 1884.
He came to bat at 181/8 after Australia piled on 551.
Having opened batting, Scotton had characteristically crawled to 53 at the other end.
On this day, 1930, Jack Hobbs refused to play a match in Calcutta.
What happened was like this.
Vizzy had recruited both Hobbs and Sutcliffe for his personal team for the 1930-31 season.
Both had adjusted to India and had got runs by the time the teams moved to Calcutta.
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After two days of cricket, the score at Eden Gardens read
Bengal Governor's XI 173 and 46, Vizzy's XI 78 and 25/0.
Vizzy had held back Hobbs and Sutcliffe during the chase.
The next day was a Sunday, the rest day of the match.
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But the hectic scheduling meant that Vizzy's men had to play a one-day one-innings match, against Calcutta Sporting Union – at the Sporting Union Ground.