Kiran Maqsood Baluch (born 23 February 1978) is a Pakistani 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 who played as an

all-rounder An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a handful of batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are cons ...

, batting right-handed and

bowling Bowling is a Throwing sports#Target sports, target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a bowling ball, ball toward Bowling pin, pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). Most references to ''bowling'' are ...

right-arm

off break Off spin is a type of spin bowling in cricket. A bowler who uses this technique is called an off spinner. Off spinners bowl with their right-arm and a finger spin action. Their normal delivery is called an off break, which spins from left to ...

. She appeared in three Test matches and 40 One Day Internationals for

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. She holds the record for the highest score in women's Test cricket, scoring 242 against the West Indies in

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. She played domestic cricket for

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

Early life and introduction to cricket

Born as the eldest child of her family, Baluch started playing cricket at a young age. As a child, she also played

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and

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since her school did not have facilities for women to play cricket. Her father was a professional cricketer who played in tournaments like the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy and for teams like Pakistan Television and Pakistan International Airlines. He used to teach her bowling, and Baluch played regularly with her father and her youngest brother.

Entry into the national team

In October 1996, the Pakistan Women's Cricket Control Association headed by Shaiza Khan was on look out for players on a trial basis to build a team that was set to tour Australia and New Zealand. Baluch was approached by Khan to be a part of the team. Until 1997, Baluch did not play any competitive cricket. Her first major tournament was the Fatima Jinnah Trophy, an annual domestic tournament in Pakistan. Following that, she was selected in the national side that toured Australia and New Zealand in 1997 to play three ODIs and a few domestic games. Baluch represented Pakistan women's cricket team in their first ever ODI match, played against New Zealand in January 1997. Pakistan was bowled out for 56 runs, with Baluch being the top-scorer with 19 runs. Pakistan lost the match by 10 wickets. In the next game she was out for a duck. Her poor performance continued in the subsequent series' in Australia and India. During the season, in one of the matches played against

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in India, she picked up 2 wickets for 13 runs, which remain her best ODI bowling figures. Baluch was then picked for the Test squad that toured Sri Lanka in 1998. The Pakistan women's cricket team played its first ever Test match in the series. Playing in her first Test match, Baluch made top-scored for her team with 76 in the first innings. However, the hosts won the match by 309 runs. In her next match against

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in 2000 she was out for a duck. The team then played against the West Indies in a home series in

. In the only Test match of the series, she made 242 runs in the first innings. The total is the highest individual score by a player in

Women's Test cricket Women's Test cricket is the longest format of women's cricket and is the female equivalent to men's Test cricket. Matches comprise four-innings and are held over a maximum of four days between two of the leading cricketing nations. The rules gov ...

as of 2021. She also achieved her career-best Test bowling performance in the third innings of the match when she took 2 wickets for 41 runs.

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Baluch, Kiran 1978 births Living people People from Jacobabad District Sportspeople from Sindh Pakistan women Test cricketers Pakistan women One Day International cricketers Karachi women cricketers Baloch sportspeople Baloch women