She has taken big steps to keep up with the game and is ready to make a strong India comeback
Srinidhi Ramanujam15-Jun-2024Arundhati Reddy felt it was necessary to stay in tune with the times after she was dropped from the India T20I squad three years ago. The pace-bowling allrounder featured in 26 T20Is from 2018 to 2021, taking 18 wickets. It’s not like she had underperformed. But with the rise of Pooja Vastrakar – who also made her international debut in 2018 and is of the same breed as Reddy – and with Shikha Pandey in the mix then, India couldn’t fit in too many pace-bowling allrounders in a spin-heavy side. Reddy went down the pecking order.Three years later, she has forced her way into the national setup, named in all formats against South Africa at home.The past few years haven’t been the easiest but Reddy benefited from a little nudge on to the right path from a familiar face: Biju George. He was the India women’s team’s fielding coach from 2017 to 2019 and was also the one who wanted her to get in to the Delhi Capitals team, of which he was a part, in WPL 2023.Related
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At the inaugural WPL, under Meg Lanning, Reddy bowled a total of nine overs in four innings, and picked up just two wickets. Capitals finished as runners-up. Reddy knew she had to do something to get more opportunities in domestic cricket to stay relevant.She decided to quit Railways after being with the team from 2017-18 to 2022-23. Railways are a powerhouse in the Indian women’s domestic circuit, having dominated the 50-over and T20 format for decades. It was, however, not an easy decision.”She took the big gamble of leaving Railways,” George told ESPNcricinfo. “For a player like her, coming from a middle-class family… to get employment in cricket is very, very hard. None of the oil companies like ONGC now recruit women. You have to make your house run with whatever you earn from Railways and WPL or from the domestic circuit. She knew that if she performed well at the domestic [level], she would [get a] central contract and [a team at the] WPL, which would be better for her in the long run. That’s exactly what happened.”She has become very calm. She is not hurried. The biggest unsaid rule in cricket is you always have more time than you think there is. The moment you understand that, you are sorted. She has got her thought process sorted. She gets into the zone very quickly.”Even if she doesn’t get a wicket, she doesn’t go for magic deliveries, she just keeps things simple.”After the 2023 WPL, Reddy met George – who also works with the Delhi Capitals men’s team – in Hyderabad during the IPL. She spoke to him about not getting enough opportunities, and quitting Railways. A call from him to the Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) was all it took for her to move to Kerala for the 2023-24 season.Arundhati Reddy has been named in all formats for the South Africa series•ICC via GettyShe took her time to find her feet with the ball in the Senior Women’s T20 Trophy in 2023 but in the Senior Women’s One Day Trophy, her batting took off. She scored 252 runs in five innings, including three half-centuries. Before the season, she had worked with batting coach Arjun Dev at NICE Academy in Bengaluru.At the 2024 WPL, she transformed into a different player with the ball. She played all of nine games and sent down a total of 29.3 overs – the second-highest by a Capitals player – and picked up eight wickets at an economy of 7.62.”At DC, she focussed on skillsets. She was working on yorkers, her release points; she was not getting the ball to move initially, she was just sliding it down. But when we got the wrist position going right, she started bowling well and she started swinging [the ball] both ways. For batting, she was working with Arjun. So batting also bloomed.”She has also become stronger, put on muscles. Mentally also she has become stronger.”
“If you look at it in other way, this [being droppped from the India squad] is a good thing. This made her stronger, and resolute. This has made her a better player for India and I believe she will be one of our trump cards for the World Cup”Biju George on Arundhati Reddy
After the WPL, she featured in the inter-zonal multi-day tournament for South Zone, notching up an 85 against West Zone and 57 against East Zone in the final. It was an indication that she had levelled up against the red ball too, which earned her a call-up into the India squad for the upcoming one-off Test against South Africa.All through this, India batter Jemimah Rodrigues and Ananya Upendran, former Hyderabad pacer who is also a part of the scouting team at Capitals, have constantly given Reddy words of affirmation and encouragement and kept her spirits high in her quest for a comeback.”She always had the backing of Jemimah and Ananya. These two people are vital for her. They always keep talking to her, keep pushing her,” George said. “Aru is very wise now, knows how much to train – when to train, when to push, when to take a break. She is very good at managing herself. And that has really paid off.”If you look at it in other way, this [being dropped from the India squad] is a good thing. This made her stronger, and resolute. This has made her a better player for India and I believe she will be one of our trump cards for the World Cup.”The T20 World Cup is three-and-a-half months away. And a home ODI World Cup is more than a year away. But if she has indeed evolved, she will be making most of the opportunities that come her way in the home series that begins on Sunday.
