On 7th March 2006, a young 16-year-old girl stepped out on the field against India’s favorite rival Pakistan and batted her heart out, this girl was Thirush Kamini. Opening the batting with Sulakshana Naik, Thirush scored 22 Runs in 24 balls and made a solid statement in international cricket. Not just that, she took 3 wickets as well in her 10 overs spell as India went on to defeat Pakistan by 80 Runs.
The same Thirush Kamini turned 31 on 30th July 2021.
Thirush Kamini has played about 2 Test matches, 39 One-Day Internationals, and 3 T20 Internationals in her career so far. At that time, the number of matches was not that much but still, Kamini managed to break a lot of records.
Kamini started her cricketing career as a leg-spinner but then shifted to batting, where she found her happy place. Kamini occasionally bowls if the captain asks her to. She is, in general, a very calm and cool person who channels all her aggression into her play. Her playing style has been compared with the former Sri Lankan batsman Sanath Jayasuriya but she disagrees with it. Personally, she thinks that her batting style is more like the Aussie player Adam Gilchrist.
Kamini gives credit for her success to people around her, the ones that helped her in her cricketing journey, “I have gotten this far because of my father, who is also my coach, my sister Sugaragamini, who plays for the Tamil Nadu state team, my trainer Rajamani and my teacher Dr. G Ravindran at Madras University. They’ve always encouraged me to follow my dreams.”
And even in playing season, when her schedule is busy, Thirush makes time for the important stuff. “I work and train very hard six days a week, but on Sunday I set time aside for people who count.”
✅ Highest Test Partnership for the second Wicket with Punam Raut.
✅ 2nd Highest Test Score by an Opener.
✅ First Hundred for India in The Women’s Cricket World CupHappy 31st Birthday to India’s Thirush Kamini 🥳#HappyBirthday pic.twitter.com/NAzGvk1Bvh
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) July 30, 2021
Let’s take a look at the records that have her name on them.
Kamini is the first Indian woman to score a century in the Cricket World Cup. She scored 100 runs in 146 balls against West Indies in the first match of the 2013 Women’s Cricket World Cup.
Kamini is the Indian opener to have played the highest individual Test innings. In November 2014, Kamini made a cracking score of 192 runs in 430 balls in the test match against South Africa which is the second-best score by Indian women and the highest score by an Indian opener.
During her 192 innings, she also shared a 275 run partnership with Punam Raut, who also made 130 runs.
Thirush Kamini is the only woman cricketer to have won BCCI Player Of the Year on three occasions (2007-2008 Junior Player of the Year, 2009-2010 Senior Player of the Year, 2012-2013 Senior Player of the Year.