Karthika Vijayaraghavan
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Karthika Vijayaraghavan (born 18 April 1988) is an Indian-born cricketer who plays for the
Germany women's national cricket team The Germany woman's national cricket team is the team that represents the country of Germany in international women's cricket matches. The team is organised by German Cricket Federation and has been an associate member of the International Cr ...
as a
wicket-keeper-batter In cricket, the wicket-keeper is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket, ready to stop deliveries that pass the batsman, and take a catch, stump the batsman out, or run out a batsman when occasion arises. The wicket-ke ...
.


Early life

Vijayaraghavan was born in
Ambur Ambur is a town and municipality in newly announced Tirupathur district, Vellore region of Tamil Nadu, India. It is located on the banks of the Palar River between Chennai and Bangalore. Ambur has a sizeable leather industry, and is known for i ...
,
Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...
, India. As a child, she lived in Indiranagar, east
Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...
(Bengaluru),
Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...
, and participated in
gully cricket A gully is a landform created by running water, mass movement, or both, which erodes soil to a sharp angle, typically on a hillside or in river floodplains or terraces. Gullies resemble large ditches or small valleys, but are metres to t ...
on its streets, but did not play the game in a formal sense. Instead, her parents encouraged her to play basketball, as their perception of cricket was that it was a men's sport. Despite being only tall even as an adult, Vijayaraghavan spent 14 years from fourth grade as a
point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the Basketball positions, five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position and is usually the shortest player ...
. As a basketballer, Vijayaraghavan became the captain of the RVCE basketball team, led the squad to victory, and was awarded the
VTU Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU), is a collegiate university, collegiate Public university, public State university (India), state university in Belagavi district, Belagavi, Karnataka established by the Government of Karnataka. It i ...
university trophy. She also kept playing cricket in summer, and would be the only girl playing with boys on the street. Although she never gave any thought to playing cricket professionally, she did participate in corporate cricket tournaments, in one of which she was the best player and won the trophy. In 2014, she married her husband Vijayaraghavan, whom she had met on a matrimonial site. They shared a love for sport; he was a cricketer and tennis player. The following year, they moved to Germany, where they settled in
Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...
. Less than a year later, her husband, who had started playing as an opening batsman for a club in Germany, encouraged her to take up cricket there.


Domestic career

In October 2017, Vijayaraghavan started playing in the women's cricket team fielded by the TV Pflugfelden
sports club A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports. Sports clubs range from organisations whose members play together, unpaid, and ...
in
Ludwigsburg Ludwigsburg (; Swabian German, Swabian: ''Ludisburg'') is a Cities of Germany, city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about north of Stuttgart city centre, near the river Neckar. It is the largest and primary city of the Ludwigsburg (district), Lu ...
, Baden-Württemberg. Initially, she had difficulty adjusting to playing with a hard ball instead of a tennis ball, and to wearing protective padding, which was heavy. Additionally, the physical exertion of playing the game in earnest left her with multiple blood clots on her arms and legs. But she persevered. Ahead of the national domestic competition in 2018, Vijayaraghavan was appointed as captain of the team. In March 2018, she attended a national training camp, and was added to the national squad. She was then selected for the regional Southern Stormers team, which later that year played a 6-match Super Series against another regional team, the Northern Thunderbirds. As of 2021, Vijayaraghavan was playing at the domestic level for the Frankfurt Cricket Club.


International career

In May 2018, soon after becoming eligible to play for Germany, Vijayaraghavan made her national debut against a sub-national team from the Netherlands, as a specialist batter. Soon afterwards, she played for the German women's development team in a tournament against the
Marylebone Cricket Club The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's, Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London, England. The club was the governing body of cricket from 1788 to 1989 and retain ...
and Belgium, and was named as the best female player in the tournament. In August 2018, she toured England and Scotland with the national team, which played matches against Scotland U21,
Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...
and
Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city in north east England **County Durham, a ceremonial county which includes Durham *Durham, North Carolina, a city in North Carolina, United States Durham may also refer to: Places ...
during the tour. In January 2019, and with the
2019 ICC Women's Qualifier Europe The 2019 ICC Women's Qualifier Europe was a cricket tournament that was held in Spain in June 2019. The matches in the tournament were played as Women's Twenty20 Internationals (WT20Is), with the top team progressing to both the 2019 ICC Women's ...
looming, the national team coach "just threw the icketkeeper gloves at er" He said that Vijayaraghavan had great reflexes, and gave her two or three months to prove she could keep. Vijayaraghavan accepted the challenge. She watched many videos of her favourite player, Sarah Taylor, and of leading Indian male wicketkeepers, and also had her husband give her throwdowns. On 26 June 2019, Vijayaraghavan made her WT20I and international wicket-keeping debut, against
Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
at the La Manga Club Ground,
Murcia Murcia ( , , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the Capital (political), capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the Ranked lists of Spanish municipalities#By population, seventh largest city i ...
, Spain, in the first match of the 2019 ICC Women's Qualifier Europe, which was also Germany's first ever WT20I. Subsequently, she played in bilateral series against Oman at the
Al Amerat Cricket Stadium Oman Cricket Academy Ground, also known as the Al Amerat Cricket Stadium, is a cricket ground in Al Amarat, south of Muscat, Oman. The ground is owned by the Oman Cricket Board. In January 2021, the International Cricket Council (ICC) gave accr ...
,
Muscat Muscat (, ) is the capital and most populous city in Oman. It is the seat of the Governorate of Muscat. According to the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), the population of the Muscat Governorate in 2022 was 1.72 million. ...
, in February 2020, and against Austria at the
Seebarn Cricket Ground Seebarn Cricket Ground is a cricket ground in Seebarn, Austria. It was opened in 1995 as the first dedicated Cricket Ground in Austria. In 2000 a permanent sight screen was added to the ground and in 2001 a pavilion. The ground is the home bas ...
near Vienna in August 2020. In the final match of the latter series, Vijayaraghavan top scored with 36 *, and shared in two significant
partnerships A partnership is an agreement where parties agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. The partners in a partnership may be individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments or combinations. Organizations m ...
. During the first of those collaborations, she and her Karnataka-born captain,
Anuradha Doddaballapur Anuradha Doddaballapur (born 10 September 1986) is an Indian-born German cardiovascular scientist and cricketer who also currently serves as the captain of the Germany women's national cricket team. She is currently a postdoctoral research scien ...
(who made 31), put on 26 runs for the second wicket. Later, she combined with Verena Stolle (who scored 23 *) to make an unbroken 57 runs for the fourth wicket. Germany finished the innings with 129/3, and eventually won the match by 79 runs to complete a series whitewash. In July 2021, Vijayaraghavan played in all five matches of another bilateral series, against
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
at the
Bayer Uerdingen Cricket Ground The Bayer Uerdingen Cricket Ground is a cricket ground in Krefeld, Germany. Built to international standards, it is part of Germany's national cricket performance centre, which includes a three lane indoor training net facility. The performance ...
,
Krefeld Krefeld ( , ; ), also spelled Crefeld until 1925 (though the spelling was still being used in British papers throughout the Second World War), is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany. It is located northwest of Düsseldorf, its c ...
. The following month, she played in all four of Germany's matches in the
2021 ICC Women's T20 World Cup Europe Qualifier The 2021 ICC Women's T20 World Cup Europe Qualifier was a cricket tournament that was played in August 2021 in Spain. The matches were played as Women's Twenty20 Internationals (WT20Is), with the top team progressing to the 2022 ICC Women's T20 ...
. In the last of those matches, against Scotland, she came in to bat at 17/7, and ended up undefeated after facing 29 balls, the most faced by any of Germany's batters in the match. She later told ''Global Indian'' that that innings had improved her confidence levels, even though she had not scored many runs, as she does not get many chances to bat in international matches.


Personal life

In the German team, Vijayaraghavan has two teammates from Bengaluru, namely
Anuradha Doddaballapur Anuradha Doddaballapur (born 10 September 1986) is an Indian-born German cardiovascular scientist and cricketer who also currently serves as the captain of the Germany women's national cricket team. She is currently a postdoctoral research scien ...
and Sharanya Sadarangani. The three of them enjoy conversing in
Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...
, an Indian regional language, including while batting in partnership in international matches. Off the field, Vijayaraghavan works as an app developer for a health insurer in Stuttgart.


See also

*
List of Germany women Twenty20 International cricketers This is a list of Germany women Twenty20 International cricketers. A Women's Twenty20 International (WT20I) is an international cricket match between two representative teams. A T20I is played under the rules of Twenty20 cricket. In April 2018, the ...


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vijayaraghavan, Karthika 1988 births Living people Sportswomen from Tamil Nadu Indian emigrants to Germany Sportspeople from Stuttgart Germany women Twenty20 International cricketers Germany women's national cricket team