Jhulan Goswami (born 25 November 1982) is an Indian former

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er. She played for the India women's national cricket team from 2002 to 2022. She played as a right-arm medium fast bowler and right-handed batter. She is one of the fastest (female) bowler of all times and considered one of the greatest bowlers to ever play the sport. She played 204 ODI matches before her retirement from international cricket in 2022, taking 255 wickets, and holds the record for taking the most number of wickets in

Women's One Day International cricket Women's One Day International (ODI) is the limited overs cricket, limited overs form of women's cricket. Matches are scheduled for 50 over (cricket), overs, equivalent to the One Day International, men's game. The first women's ODIs were played ...

. Goswami won the ICC Women's Player of the Year award in

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

and the M.A. Chidambaram trophy for Best Women's Cricketer in 2011. She became number one in the Women's ODI bowling rankings of ICC in January 2016 and regained it in March 2019.

Career

Goswami was born to a middle-class family in the town of Chakdaha in the Nadia district of

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

on 25 November 1982. She took up

at the age of 15, and was previously a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

fan. Goswami began to take interest in cricket when she watched the

1992 Cricket World Cup The 1992 Cricket World Cup (known as the Benson & Hedges World Cup 1992 for sponsorship reasons) was the fifth Cricket World Cup, the premier One Day International cricket tournament for men's national teams, organised by the International Cric ...

on TV. She took further interest in the sport after watching Australian batter Belinda Clark in the

1997 Women's Cricket World Cup The 1997 Women's Cricket World Cup, also known as the Hero Honda Women's World Cup, was the sixth edition of the Women's Cricket World Cup, held in India. With 32 matches involving a record 11 teams across 25 cricket grounds, England, Australi ...

. As Chakdaha did not have any cricket facilities at the time, Goswami travelled to

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

to play cricket. Soon after finishing her training in Kolkata, Goswami was called up to the Bengal women's cricket team. At the age of 19, she made her international debut in 2002 in a one-day International Match against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

. Her

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

debut came on 14 January 2002 against England in

Lucknow Lucknow () is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is the administrative headquarters of the epon ...

. Goswami along with Mithali Raj guided the Indian Women's Cricket team to their first Test series win in England in 2006–07 season. During the same season, Goswami helped India to get their first victory against England, making a fifty as nightwatchman in the first Test at

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

and taking her career best match figures of 10/78, with 5/33 in the 1st innings and 5/45 in the 2nd innings – in the second test at

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England. It is a market town and has a Minster (church), minster church. Its population in 2011 was 64,621. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century priory, monastic foundation, owned by the ...

. In 2007 Jhulan was a member of the Asian squad in the Afro-Asia tournament in India and also won the ICC Women's Cricketer of the Year when no Indian male cricketer had bagged an individual ICC yearly award. Later in 2008, she took over the captaincy of the team from Mithali Raj and held it till 2011. In 2008, she also became the fourth woman to reach 100 wickets in ODIs at the 2008 Women's Asia Cup. She captained India in 25 ODI and was awarded the Arjuna Award in 2010. In 2012 she became second Indian women cricketer to receive

Padma Shri The Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī'', lit. 'Lotus Honour'), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. In ...

after Diana Edulji. She has 44 Test wickets to her name in 12 matches. Overall she has 311 international wickets in 284 games and has scored 1922 runs with three half centuries. She is the highest wicket taker in WODIs going past Australian Cathryn Fitzpatrick's record of 180 wickets. She achieved the feat during the Women's Quadrangular Series in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. On 7 February 2018 Jhulan became the first woman cricketer to reach 200 wickets in one day cricket. She has 255 wickets in 200 matches at an average of 22.04 with two 5 wicket hauls and 4 four wicket hauls. In ODIs she has 1226 runs in 204 matches. In 2011, where India failed to win against

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, she took her career-best 6/31. In May 2017, Goswami became the leading wicket-taker in ODIs when she took her 181st wicket against South Africa at PUK Oval,

Potchefstroom Potchefstroom ( ; ), colloquially known as Potch, is an college town, academic city in the North West (South African province), North West Province of South Africa. It hosts the Potchefstroom Campus of the North-West University. Potchefstro ...

, surpassing Australia's Cathryn Fitzpatrick. Goswami was part of the Indian team that reached the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

of the 2017 Women's Cricket World Cup where they lost to

by nine runs.England v India: Women's World Cup final – live!
, ''The Guardian'', 23 July 2017. On 19 September 2017, Jhulan Goswami said that a biopic on her is in the making with the working title ''Chakdaha Express''. The biopic will be directed by Sushanta Das and will trace Goswami's journey from the Vivekananda Park nets in Kolkata to the Lord's cricket ground in London, where India lost the World Cup final against England in July. In April 2018, an Indian postage stamp was issued in her honour. In March 2022, in the 2022 Women's Cricket World Cup, Goswami became the first bowler to take 250 wickets in WODI cricket. In September 2018, against Sri Lanka, she took her 300th wicket in international cricket. In November 2020, Goswami was nominated for the ICC Women's ODI Cricketer of the Decade award. In May 2021, she was named in India's Test squad for their one-off match against

. In January 2022, she was named in India's team for the 2022 Women's Cricket World Cup in New Zealand. On 12 March 2022, she became the overall highest wicket taker in the Women's Cricket World Cup overtaking previous record of Lyn Fullston. Goswami retired from international cricket in September 2022, with her final match coming against England at Lord's, with India winning by 16 runs. She will continue to be in the

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

squad as a mentor/player.

Coaching career

On 2 February 2023, she joined the Mumbai-based Women's Premier League franchise

Mumbai Indians The Mumbai Indians are a professional Twenty20, Twenty20 cricket team based in Mumbai, Maharashtra, that competes in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The Indians were founded in 2008 and are owned by India's largest Conglomerate (company), co ...

as a bowling coach and mentor.

Awards, honors and titles

* 2007 – ICC Women's Cricketer of the Year * Captain of Indian Women's Cricket Team (2008–2011) * Fastest Bowler * 2010 – Arjuna Award * 2012 – Padma Shri * Leading International Wicket Taker

Legacy

* '' Chakda Xpress'', the biopic of Jhulan Goswami, directed by Prosit Roy, starring Anushka Sharma, will be premiered on Netflix. By this she is the second Indian female cricketer to have a biopic to her credit following Mithali Raj ( Taapsee Pannu portrayed her in 2022 film '' Shabaash Mithu'', a biopic on Mithali Raj).

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Goswami, Jhulan 1983 births Living people Bengal women cricketers East Zone women cricketers India women One Day International cricketers India women Test cricketers India women Twenty20 International cricketers Indian women cricket captains Indian women cricketers Recipients of the Arjuna Award Recipients of the Padma Shri in sports People from Nadia district Cricketers from West Bengal Sportswomen from West Bengal IPL Trailblazers cricketers ICC Cricketer of the Year