Former Skipper Shanta Rangaswamy To Get BCCI's Lifetime Achievement Award

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Monday announced that former Indian women’s cricket team skipper Shanta Rangaswamy has been nominated for the Lifetime Achievement Award for Women. The annual awards ceremony to recognize talent in Indian cricket will be held in Bangalore on March 8.

This is the first time that BCCI will be introducing awards for women Indian cricketers for their success on the field.

The women’s team in Indian cricket has been doing wonders on the field over the last few years. It qualified for World Cup 2017 earlier this month. So, finally it seems the women cricketers are getting their due from the cricketing association.

Rangaswamy made landmark contributions to women’s cricket during her time in the team. She played 16 Tests between 1976 and 1991 and scored 750 runs at 32.60, taking 21 wickets at 31.61. Between 1982 and 1986, she played 19 ODIs in which she made 287 runs and bagged 12 wickets. The fact that she will be awarded on International Women’s Day gives it another meaning altogether.

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“It’s a good feeling that women cricketers are finally getting their due. Those days were tough but we were still able to lay a solid foundation for the future,” said Rangaswamy as reported by News X.

“Ever since the BCCI took women cricket under its fold, things have significantly improved, but there is still a lot that needs to be done,” she added.

The committee has also nominated Padmalkar Shivalkar and Rajinder Goel for the CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award 2016.

The BCCI press release said, “The committee, consisting of Mr N Ram, Mr Ramachandra Guha and Ms Diana Edulji, believed that BCCI needs to recognise the services rendered by Mr Goel and Mr Shivalkar who were not fortunate enough to play for India.”

Picture credit- Scroll