Swing Queen Renuka Singh Thakur named ICC Emerging Women’s Cricketer of the Year

(February 26, 2023) When prime minister Narendra Modi was congratulating the Indian women’s cricket team after they won the Asia Cup 2022, he had special words of praise for the Himachal girl Renuka Singh Thakur. “Renuka’s face might ooze the peacefulness of Shimla, and the innocent smile of the mountains but her tough bowling on the field defeats the confidence of even the seasoned batters,” he said in his speech. Popularly known as the Swing Queen of Indian cricket, Renuka was also commended by the PM for being an inspiration for girls in the remotest corners of India.  

Renuka was named the Emerging Women’s Cricketer of the Year 2022 by ICC. The decision came after ICC conducted a poll for the specialist panel of media representatives, the ICC Voting Academy, and cricket lovers around the world.  

India’s newest cricket star, who is known for her extraordinary swings while bowling, left behind Australia’s Darcie Brown, England’s Alice Capsey and her Indian colleague Yastika Bhatia garnering maximum votes. ICC announced the names of the winners last month. Global voting categories were based on overall performances and achievements of the nominated cricket stars throughout the calendar year. 

From village grounds to international cricket 

Hailing from Parsa village in Shimla district of Himachal Pradesh, Renuka was raised by her mother. She had lost her father at the tender age of three. He wanted both his children to take up sports and it was to fulfil her father’s dream that the youngster took up cricket, finding it the most interesting game.  

While Renuka’s mother was busy working as a class IV employee in the Himachal Pradesh’s irrigation and public health department, Renuka would play cricket with her elder brother Vinod (who is named after cricketer Vinod Kambli) and his friends at the village grounds. Sometimes Renuka would even travel with them to other villages to play her favourite game. 

Renuka Singh Thakur

In 2009, Renuka enrolled herself in Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association’s Women’s Residential Academy in Dharamshala, following the advice of her uncle who is a physical education teacher in a government college. Later, she was selected for the Australia tour of the national women’s cricket team, followed by tours in Bangladesh and Thailand. She performed exceptionally in all the tournaments.

Turning heads 

In 2019-20, the cricket star won hearts by taking a total of 23 wickets in different tournaments, establishing herself as leading wicket-taker of the Indian women’s cricket team. The following year, she won the BCCI Senior Women’s One Day Trophy for taking nine wickets against Australia. 

“All I do is step on the field with confidence and bank on the energy of the fielders to throw the balls in most challenging manner, enjoying the process all along,” she said. Renuka also remarked, in the conversation with Jemima Rodrigues and Deepti Sharma, “I love the spectators during the match. When I am on field, looking at them fills me up with confidence.”

Renuka was selected to represent India in the International T20 Cricket Series in 2021. The Global Indian went on to represent India in Women’s Cricket World Cup in 2022 and played a pivotal role in helping her team lift the trophy, leaving behind 15 teams from across the world. Renuka also became the first Indian pacer to take five wickets in T20 World Cup. 

Mesmerised by her power-packed performances, cricket lovers and experts voted her as the Emerging Women’s Cricketer of the Year title from amongst an impressive list of high performing international cricketers nominated by the ICC. 

With the coveted title that Renuka has earned right at the beginning of 2023, and her recent selection for ₹ 1.5 crore by Royal Challengers Bangalore, the year has already started on a promising note for the Swing Queen. 

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