Ahead of the second edition of the Women’s Premier League, Royal Challengers Bangalore’s ambitions to win the trophy took a blow as their all-rounder Kanika Ahuja was ruled out of the season on 19th February 2024 with an injury.
She was part of the franchise in the last edition and, later, also made her India debut during the Asian Games. Kanika Ahuja was also part of India’s playing XI of the third T20I against England in December 2023. RCB will be missing her presence this year.
Nevertheless, the Red Army has managed to replace her with another all-rounder named Shraddha Pokharkar. Pokharkar represented the Maharashtra team in domestic cricket and her recent performances for the team should inspire a lot of confidence.
Shraddha Pokharkar has been roped in by the franchise for her base price of INR 10 lakh.
In this article, let’s take a look at five interesting facts about the RCB’s recruit:
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Pokharkar was RCB’s net bowler in WPL 2023:
For the unversed, Pokharkar bowled the RCB batters last season as a net bowler. He impressed one and all with his bowling exploits and will now be playing for the team this season.
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Holds experience of being a net bowler for India in T20Is
Apart from being a net bowler for RCB, Shraddha has also bowled in the net for India’s women’s team during Australia’s tour of India for a five-match T20I series.
Australia won that series by a 4-1 margin. India could only register a solitary win in that series, winning the second T20 international match.
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Played for Trailblazers in the Women’s T20 Challenge tournament
Shraddha Pokharkar was part of the Trailblazers team in the Women’s T20 Challenge Trophy. The tournament ran for four seasons before the Women’s Premier League came into the picture.
It is pertinent to note that RCB captain Smriti Mandhana and Shraddha have played together for Maharashtra in the Senior Women’s T20 League. The duo shares a good friendship on and off the field and, thus, it won’t be difficult for Pokharkar to adjust to the RCB environment.
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Pokharkar has trained at the Vengsarkar Cricket Academy
The 27-year-old started playing with the leather ball when she was 20 years old. Before that, she used to play with the tennis ball. While representing D.Y. Patil in her first year of college, Pokharkar exhibited notable performances with the bat.
She then enrolled herself for selection trials at the Dilip Vengsarkar Cricket Academy in Pune in 2017. Notably, it was the first time when she played with the leather ball.
Mohan Jadhav, who later became her first coach, was mighty impressed with Shraddha. He allowed her to excel and the rest is history.
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Shraddha’s favorite performance came for Maharashtra in the senior women’s one-day tournament
During the Senior women’s one-day tournament 2019-20 encounter, Shraddha Pokharkar took the new ball and picked up three wickets for 38 runs in 10 overs. By her admission, it was her favorite performance so far in her cricketing career.
“My favorite performance so far has been the one that came against Baroda in Pune during the senior women’s one-day tournament in 2019-20. It was just my second match for the Maharashtra senior team. I opened the bowling and picked up 3-38 in 10 overs, including two maidens. Yastika Bhatia was one of the three scalps that I took that day.”
WPL 2024 is shaping up with each passing day. And cricketing action is reaching new heights every time franchisees take the field. Who will lift the trophy this time is what will be known as the tournament progresses ahead.
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