Jhulan Goswami

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

Goswami won the ICC Women's Player of the Year award in 2007 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 on 25 November 1982. She took up cricket at the age of 15, and was previously a football fan. Goswami began to take interest in cricket when she watched the 1992 Cricket World Cup on TV. She took further interest in the sport after watching Australian batter Belinda Clark in the 1997 Women's Cricket World Cup. 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 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. 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 She achieved the feat during the Women's Quadrangular Series in South Africa. 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.

Goswami was part of the Indian team that reached the final of the 2017 Women's Cricket World Cup where they lost to England by nine runs.

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 England. 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 squad as a mentor/player.

Coaching career On 2 February 2023, she joined the Mumbai-based Women's Premier League franchise Mumbai Indians 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 ).