Who is Taniya Bhatia: India wicket-keeper Taniya Bhatia is a hit on the internet today as she took a stunning catch on Wednesday to dismiss opening batter Lauren Winfield-Hill in the ongoing one-off Test between India and England. 23-year-old Bhatia is now the first woman cricketer from Chandigarh to play Test cricket for India.
With the Mithali Raj-led side returning to the Test world after nearly seven years, it was crucial for the ODI squad to break the solid partnership between openers Tammy Beaumont and Winfield-Hill. Bhatia pulled off an impressive dive for the team to get their first wicket.
Watch the internet-hit catch here:
Who is Taniya Bhatia?
Wicket-keeper batswoman Bhatia has so far played 15 ODIs and 50 T20s for India. She made her Test debut against England in Bristol on June 16 during the one-off tie. She now joins the league of other Chandigarh cricketers, including Kapil Dev, Ashok Malhotra, Chetan Sharma, Yograj Singh, Yuvraj Singh and VRV Singh, who have played Test cricket for India. Before her, no woman cricketer from Chandigarh ever played Test cricket for the country.
Bhatia has been looking forward to getting into the game after almost a year of on and off cricket. During the entire lockdown, she had taken to practising yoga and various exercises at home in Chandigarh. “With our changing lifestyle due to the coronavirus, I decided there was no way I would waste my time and that is when I decided to do something different from my usual routine and I started practising yoga,” said Bhatia last year.
Selected to play for India A at 16, Bhatia had become the first woman cricketer from Chandigarh to enter the national team. Her father Sanjay Bhatia was a wicket-keeper and was a reserve player for Punjab. Her uncle was a wicketkeeper too. "I guess it is in the blood. Since I was eight years old I was inclined towards keeping,” she had said, adding that Adam Gilchrist was her idol while growing up. "I was in class 8 when I met him while he was playing for Kings XI Punjab in the IPL. KXIP were having a practice session and he was kind enough to come up and talk to me," the 23-year-old wicketkeeper-cum-batter had shared.
Bhatia, who played her first ODI/T20 match in 2018 against South Africa, stood out for her brilliant work as a wicket-keeper in last year’s T20 World Cup. Earlier, this year, she was left out of India's limited-overs squad for the women's home series against South Africa in Lucknow on March 7. She claims her motto is to make an impact for the team and win them games.
India Women vs England Women
The India vs England Women's Test Match opened with the hosts choosing to bat first. England scored 269/6 on Day 1 and the Indian women are yet to show off their batting skill.
The Indian women's cricket team has five debutants for the ongoing Test match 2021 against England- Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Taniya Bhatia and Pooja Vastrakar.
Feature Image Credit: Taniya Bhatia/Instagram
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