What made Pramila Bhat take up cricket seriously?

Pramila Bhat is the former Captain of the Indian Women's cricket Team. She is currently residing in Abu Dhabi and working as a Talent Acquisition Manager. She reflects back on her career in a conversation with our partner Female Cricket.

Cricket is a game that warrants a varying number of skills. This, however, stands true for all the games but fans of women cricket will realise it more than anyone. If one would recall, most of the cricketing icons that we see in women’s cricket were often athletes or engaged in other games.

Jemimah was a hockey player and Pramila, was also a serious Athlete. We have often heard that players who were into hockey or football made their way into cricket quite easily. Most of the sportswomen that we have around us were athletic at the start and many consider themselves sporting. Although the story and the transition are well known and heard of, it is very often that we get a deep insight into the phase of transition.

Vishal Yadav, in the sixth episode of Pioneers, urges former Indian Cricketer Pramila Bhat to reveal the same. In the candid chat, Pramila revisits her days as a kid. She remembers that she was all into athletics and had never planned to play cricket. She agrees that her entry into cricket was destined and one of the vital aspects of her career as a cricketer was her sporting instinct and readiness to play any game. She remembers having hundreds of certificates in her briefcase as a kid.

She adds that apart from her daily training tenure of around 2 hours, she had to practice cricket religiously. It was often ten hours of practice in a day. She would go on to say that she had the natural talent of using her fingers and wrist for the off-spin but it was sheer hard work that made her an Indian cricketer from a young naive athlete.

Her interest in playing games helped her chose a path but the ingredients always remain the same for everybody. It is hard work coupled with dedication and determination. Pramila stands as an inspiration for many girls for today’s generation. She knew her talent late at the age of 16 but she was least let down and took her game sportingly.

She performed magnificently in all the competitions and made her way to the Indian side and was eventually leading it. Like her, one should spot his or her talent and give the best to make sure that their passion turns into their work and runs with them for a lifetime.

What You Need to Know

• Former Captain of Indian women's cricket team
• She played Women's Test cricket between 1991 and 1996
• She played 22 One Day International Matches
• Lives in Abu Dhabi with her husband Sarangan Venugopalan and her two sons, Siddanth and Sanjith
• Growing up she was a sport fanatic and experiment with many games before picking cricket