Jhulan Goswami writes for Diana Edulji: ‘One of biggest regrets of my career was I never got to play against you’ | Cricket News

Former India cricketer Jhulan Goswami had penned a heartfelt letter to her idol Diana Edulji after the ICC announced that the Indian cricket legend was going to be inducted in the ICC Hall of Fame.Besides Edulji, former India opener Virender Sehwag and Sri Lanka superstar Aravinda de Silva will also be induced into the Hall of Fame this year.
A trailblazer for women’s cricket in India, Edulji played 54 matches for India over three different decades. This included 20 Tests (where she scored 404 runs and took 63 wickets at an average of 25.77) and 34 ODIs (211 runs, 46 wickets at an average of 16.84).
IN her playing days, while she made her mark as a slow left-arm orthodox spinner who bagged over 100 wickets for her country, after retirement she excelled in her role as an adminrator.
“It’s a proud moment for women’s cricket in our country and a proud moment for India as a whole, that you are being inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame. Your contributions over the years have been immense. It is not too much to say that the game would not be where it is in India without all your efforts,” wrote Goswami.
“From a personal perspective, one of the biggest regrets of my career was that I never got to play against you. Like many young cricketers in India, I had grown up reading about you in the record books. Women’s cricket in India started in Mumbai in 1971 and you were there from the start. We would read about your exploits, how you led the team and were so important to that side. As a player, your performances for the Indian cricket team in the 1970s and 1980s were legendary,” wrote Goswami.
Goswami went on to narrate how in 1997, when Edulji had retired from international cricket, but was still playing domestically, she had been buzzing in anticipation to play a match against the Railways team.
“I remember playing in a tournament against Railways, but you did not play that game. I was just so excited to get the opportunity to meet you. After the game, I asked you what you thought of my bowling and you told me about the hard work it would take to make it as an international. Five years later, I made my debut for India, and it was fitting that you were one of the national selectors. From there, our relationship often involved you giving me advice when I was struggling, picking out what I needed to work on. Every time you made a point, it would turn out to be valid. We did not always agree on everything but the end, we always ended up on the same page. And I always knew that you had the same goal in mind, even if we sometimes had different ways of getting there,” wrote Goswami.Most Read
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Edulji’s contribution as a cricketer and adminrator saw her become the first women’s cricketer to be awarded the Padma Shri in 2002.
“It was during my playing career that I also started to understand your impact on the game in India – how you had helped the development of the Indian Railway women’s teams in 1984 that allowed women’s cricketers to play sport and work at the same time. Those adminrative changes were transformational for cricket in our country. They are testament to how hard you have always fought for the game. Later, when you were present on the BCCI board, you made further huge contributions. You had played at the highest level and stayed involved in women’s cricket so you understood exactly what we needed. We had a voice to give our game the support it needed and we knew that we could turn to you for anything.
“From the youngster reading about your performances when I dreamed of playing for India, to the experienced international who had come to understand everything you had achieved, you have been an ever-present in my cricketing life,” wrote Goswami.