Women’s IPL 2020: Kashvee Gautam, from being inspired by Jhulan Goswami to playing alongside her

One of the youngest players in this year’s Women’s IPL T20 Challenge, the sixteen-year-old Kashvee Gautam would be seen plying her trade under Smriti Mandhana at the Trailblazers. Just three years after starting formal cricket training, the Chandigarh girl finds herself surrounded with the big names like Deandra Dottin, Jhulan Goswami, Deepti Sharma and others.

A talented left-arm pacer, Kashvee caught the eye of cricketing pundits across the country when she took all the ten wickets in an innings against Arunachal Pradesh in a BCCI Under-19 One Day match, earlier this year. In the process, the youngster also became the first-ever Indian to take all the ten wickets in a limited over game. Before her remarkable feat, Kashvee had also scored 49 with the bat to power Chandigarh to an above par total.

Kashvee first started playing cricket in her courtyard after she was gifted a bat by her aunt when she was six years old. The youngster was spotted by former Punjab Ranji player, Sanjay Dhull, when she was playing gully cricket with the boys near her house. Sanjay immediately informed the now Chandigarh Under-23 coach Nagesh Gupta about the prodigious talent he had witnessed. Gupta somehow managed to get hold of the contact details of Kashvee’s father and convinced him to let his thirteen year old daughter play.

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There has been no looking back since for Kashvee as the young girl made it to the under-19 Punjab team the same year. Though, she later shifted her base to Chandigarh, it was for the Punjab team that she first showcased what she was capable of. A natural in-swing bowler, Kashvee relies on accuracy and most of her wickets in the domestic circuit have come either through LBW or by rattling the stumps.

Interestingly it’s not the girls Kashvee loves bowling against; she gets a different thrill in bowling against the boys and getting them out.

“If you get the wicket of a boy, it will shut them down forever. They will never try to bully you or pass comments like this game is not for girls. I really enjoy bamboozling them in practice matches,” Kashvee had said to The Times of India after her ten-for spell against Arunachal Pradesh.

The youngster is greatly inspired by the legendary Jhulan Goswami.

“I try to bowl wicket to wicket. I have learnt this after watching the videos of Jhulan Goswami. Her height helps her extract a lot of bounce, but I am not as tall as her. So, I rely on my accuracy,” Kashvee had told TOI.

For someone her age, Kashvee appears to have a calm head and seems to know her game inside out. Playing and spending time with her idol, Jhulan Goswami, at the Trailblazers camp would surely be a huge positive for her and would help her grow leap and bounds.

The Trailblazers haven’t enjoyed a pleasant time at the previous two editions of Women’s T20 Challenge; and the team would want Kashvee Gautam and the veteran, Jhulan Goswami to fire in unison, if they are to win the title.

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