On Monday, Vanitha VR took to Twitter to announce her retirement from all formats of the game. In her tweet, she expressed her heartfelt gratitude towards her parents, siblings, Irfan sir, Naz bhai, Murli sir, Varun, her brother and mentor, Anand Date, Rohan, her trainer at Invictus, Shantha ma’am, Kalpana ma’am, Dilip Anna, and Gargi ma’am.
She also acknowledged Jhulan Goswami and Mithali Raj, with whom she shared the dressing room for two years. She also thanked the Karnataka State Cricket Association and Cricket Association of Bengal, including her teammates, coaches, physiotherapists, trainers and other support staff.
And this lovely innings comes to an END ! pic.twitter.com/ZJw9ieXHSO
— Vanitha VR || ವನಿತಾ.ವಿ.ಆರ್ (@ImVanithaVR) February 21, 2022
The 31-year old made her international debut for India in 2014 against Sri Lanka in an ODI in Vishakhapatnam and a couple of days later made her T20I debut also against the same opposition in Vizianagaram. She featured in six ODIs and 16 T20Is for India between 2014 and 2016. She was a part of the Indian squad for the 2016 World T20. She played as an opening batter and scored over 300 international runs.
Just like any other girl in India, Vanitha started playing cricket in the neighborhood with her father and brother. Her father took her to Karnataka Institute of Cricket (KIOC), when she was just 11 years old. At the KIOC, she was coached by Irfan Sait. Within five to six months, Vanitha was looking good and was ready to represent her state. At the age of 12, she made it to the Karnataka U-19 squad, however, had to wait for her turn to feature in the starting XI.
She made her debut for Karnataka in 2006. After playing for Karnataka for more than a decade, she made the switch to Bengal in 2021. She played six matches for Bengal and mustered 225 runs, including the best of 107 against Hyderabad. In the Indian domestic circuit, this right handed batter is known to be an attacking and aggressive player.
Apart from being a fine cricketer, she is an enterprising businesswoman, having started her venture Orgobliss in 2013, alongside her brother Suresh. Orgobliss is an organic food shop that offers an avalanche of organic food products.
Female Cricket would like to wish Vanitha VR all the best for her future.
Follow Female Cricket on Instagram and Twitter for all the latest news and updates
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.