Born on this day- Gargi Banerji
Certainly, one of the superstars of the game, Banerji is also the youngest Indian to play the game. She was just 14 when she took on England at Kolkata for the World Cup 1978. It was India’s first ever women’s ODI too and Banerji was the first capped player for the country.
However, things did not go well for both India and Banerji as the team managed only 63.
Banerji’s first big knock in ODIs came in 1982 where she opened the innings, scored 55 against International XI.
Two years later, she had 61 against Australia where she shared an 103-run partnership with Sandhya agarwal certainly was a knock to remember. The innings had nine fours. She retired in 1986 from ODIs.
Talking about the Tests, she began against Australia in 1984 and on her debut, she had 24 in the first innings and a rusty top-score of 63 in the second which helped the team to draw the match.
One of her biggest performances came days later where she shared a partnership of 153 for the first wicket with Agarwal where she scored 72. Agarwal had 134 and 83 in the match.
Against England she had 60 and 75 and helped India to draw the Test in 1986.
She was a pretty good bowler as well. How can one forget her 6-fer against New Zealand? She ended up with 6 for 9. It is still one of the best performances in Test cricket.
What makes her special is that she still remains one of the pillars of the game.
Years after her retirement, from 2011 to 2014, she was the chair of selection committee and in 2017, she was awarded the honorary life membership of the ICC.
Happy birthday, ma’am.
