Jhulan Goswami completed 20 years in international cricket on January 6. The world’s highest wicket-taker across formats in women’s cricket made her debut in 2002 against England at Chennai during a bilateral series. On her debut, she opened the bowling and picked up 2-15 in seven overs. The right-arm speedster was the second most economical bowler in that match after Neetu David, who won the Player of the Match in that game.
Since then, Goswami continues to be an integral part of India’s bowling attack. Over the last 20 years, she featured in 272 international matches and scalped 340 wickets, including six five-wicket hauls.
| Year | Number of wickets across Tests, ODIs and T20Is |
| 2002 | 22 |
| 2003 | 11 |
| 2004 | 13 |
| 2005 | 30 |
| 2006 | 44 |
| 2007 | 11 |
| 2008 | 9 |
| 2009 | 4 |
| 2010 | 12 |
| 2011 | 24 |
| 2012 | 25 |
| 2013 | 9 |
| 2014 | 20 |
| 2015 | 9 |
| 2016 | 14 |
| 2017 | 18 |
| 2018 | 18 |
| 2019 | 18 |
| 2020 | 0 |
| 2021 | 19 |
Apart from her incredible bowling ability, she is known to be more than a handy batter having three international half-centuries to her name. She has also led the Indian team between 2008 and 2011 in 43 matches, including 25 ODIs and 18 T20Is, after being appointed as the vice-captain of the team in 2006.
Though cricket was not the first sport that she took up in her childhood, she was inspired to pursue a career in cricket after she watched one of the matches of the 1997 Women’s Cricket World Cup that was played in Kolkata from the sidelines.
Journey of Jhulan 🇮🇳
340 International Wickets across all formats in 20 Years. #ChakdaXpress @JhulanG10 pic.twitter.com/bZKNZ8FtHr
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) January 6, 2022
Through her illustrious career that stretches beyond two decades now, she has broken many records, for instance, she is the youngest woman player to take 10 wickets in a Test match, she is also the bowler to take the highest wickets in the form of LBW in women’s ODIs, she is also the first bowler to take 200 wickets in women’s ODIs, to name a few. She is a part of two elite clubs, namely; 1000 runs and 100 wickets in ODIs and 1000 runs, 50 wickets and 50 catches in ODIs. She is the only Indian woman cricketer to be a part of these two clubs.
Known to be one of the fastest and tallest bowlers in women’s cricket, she won the ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year in 2007, to become the first Indian woman to win the coveted award. For her impeccable contributions to Indian sport, she won the Arjuna award in 2010 and Padma Shri in 2012. With her biopic “Chakda Xpress” hitting the floors soon, it is a perfect testament to her contributions to not only Indian women’s cricket but also women’s cricket across the world.
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I am a former cricketer having represented Mumbai University at All India University level. I was a part of MCA probables for the U-19 and U-23 age group. I have been an avid cricket writer for the last five years. Currently I am pursuing my Ph.D from IIT Bombay.