Kannagi Nagar Police Club girl, 14, bowls her way into TNCA

Now, a 14-year-old girl has made it to the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) within two years after the Club started training cricket talents and if all goes well, she will soon be seen bowling pace for the State in the under-19 women cricket. 

A native of Tirunelveli, R Karthika moved to Chennai four years ago with her parents and settled in Kannagi Nagar. Karthika is currently studying Class 10 in the Corporation School in the neighbourhood and her father Raja is into scrap business, while her mother works as a helper in an export firm. 

After she was spotted by the club in 2019, in six months, she participated at a camp organised by the HCL foundation in Avadi, 

where she impressed the organisers. She was given a reward of Rs 70,000 to buy a better kit for training and special training at Avadi on weekends. 

On July 17, she participated in the selection camp of TNCA in which 

600 girls from across the State attended and made it to the Under-19 in her maiden attempt. “Since she is just 14, she is now part of the women’s development squad and will be given training directly by TNCA. Though she focuses on bowling right now, we want to develop her as an all-rounder since she is good with the bat too,” said H Deepak (23), one of her coaches. 

Karthika was gifted a cricket bat by Adyar Deputy Commissioner V Vikraman and appreciated by Commissioner Shankar Jiwal. 

Speaking to DT Next, Karthika said she has played cricket with boys in Tirunelveli and casually tried her hand during selection. “I was training for basketball here, but did not continue it,” said Karthika. Her favourite cricket player is Hardik Pandya, “since he bowls and bats well”.