The veteran 31-year-old all-rounder from Dehradun, Uttarakhand, Sneh Rana has been a late bloomer in international cricket. She made her international debut on 19th January 2014 in an ODI against Sri Lanka in Visakhapatnam. However, an unfortunate knee injury in 2016 halted her time at the international level, as she was then sidelined from the national selection radar. But she didn’t give up on her dream and kept working on her all-round game and her fitness, by putting in those hard yards in the nets.
As a result of her grit, determination and a never-say-die attitude, she returned to the Indian side after five years in June 2021 in an ODI against England at Taunton. She has 29 wickets at an average of 34.44 and an economy of 4.62 in 27 innings with the ball for her side in the ODI format so far. Her tally of runs includes one four-wicket haul in the format for India. Besides her contributions with the ball, she has also scored 205 runs in 20 innings with the bat, including one unbeaten half-century in the format for India so far.
In the T20I format, she has picked up 24 wickets at an impressive average of 21.75 and an economy of 6.21 in 25 innings with the ball for India in the format. She has also scored 76 runs in 14 innings with the bat for her side in the format. She also went on to make her Test debut for India on 16th June 2021 against England. She has picked up 23 wickets at an average of 20.95 and an economy of 3.02 in seven innings with the ball for her side in Test cricket.
She finally seemed to have found the format of her choice as she had a couple of four-wicket hauls, a five-wicket haul and a 10-wicket haul in Tests. Her best performance with the ball in the format came when she returned with exceptional match figures of 25.3-4-77-8 in her spell in the 2nd innings against South Africa on 28th June 2024 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, in Chennai. She was also awarded the Player of the Match in that game for completing her 10-wicket haul in the format.
Besides her exploits with the ball, she also scored 121 runs at an average of 30.25 in five innings with the bat for India in the format, which included one unbeaten half-century (80* off 154 balls) against England on 16th June 2021 in Bristol, which also happened to be her debut game in the format. That innings alongside Taniya Bhatia played a crucial role in helping India draw a hard-fought game.
Moving onto the franchise level, Gujarat Giants picked her up in the inaugural edition of the Women’s Premier League (WPL), she led the franchise in the absence of their regular skipper Beth Mooney, who was eventually ruled out of the inaugural edition of the tournament after suffering an injury in the first game of the WPL against Mumbai Indians.
She hasn’t had an impressive start to her WPL career, as she picked up just six wickets, at an expensive economy of rate of 9.02 in 11 innings with the ball for Gujarat Giants in the first couple of seasons in the tournament with the franchise. She also scored 47 runs in eight innings with the bat for the franchise in the tournament.
She was released by the Giants ahead of the mini auctions in 2024, and to her sheer disappointment, she also went unsold in the auctions. She was crestfallen after going unsold and it was also a major blow to her aspirations of making a white-ball comeback into the Indian team, with the ICC Women’s ODI World Cup, coming up at home in September-October, later this year.
However, God had other plans for her as she was called up by the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) franchise as a replacement for the young off-spinner Shreyanka Patil, who has been ruled out of the ongoing 3rd edition of the WPL.
Expressing her gratitude to the fans, franchise and well-wishers, she took to her personal Instagram handle saying, “I don’t call myself lucky because this happened. I call myself lucky because I’m in people’s blessings and positive manifestations for me. Out of the blue happens when you deserve something more than you desire for it. I am elated to join the Red Army and become a part of the RCB family.”
The defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) led by skipper Smriti Mandhana will be up against the inaugural champions led by skipper Harmanpreet Kaur as the WPL action moves to the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, in Bengaluru in the ongoing 3rd edition of the tournament.
It remains to be seen how Sneh Rana bounces back and re-establishes herself as and when she gets her well-deserved opportunity for her new franchise.
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