'Koi club nahi hai sir, fun ke liye khelti hoon' - Kiran Navgire's coach reflects on interesting chat with cricketer

The Indian Women’s team have announced the squad for their white-ball tour of England next month, featuring an ODI and T20I series with three games each, on Friday (August 19). The team has handed a maiden call-up for power-hitting batter Kiran Navgire, who found out about her national call-up via Whatsapp. Kiran’s coach Gulzar Sheikh revealed a peculiar interaction with the batter back in 2016.

Navigre caught the eye of the world after her bludgeoning innings of 69 runs off just 34 deliveries for Velocity against Trailblazers, earlier this year, which included five boundaries and five maximums. The dashing batter’s coach, Gulzar Sheikh, recalled an incident involving her from 2016 when she was playing in a university game in Pune.

Sheikh was amazed by her power-hitting abilities in the match and was shocked to learn that the batter was not representing any club at the moment and was stumped by her statement that she was just playing for fun as pursuing a career in cricket is too costly for her.

“She was playing a university game at Azam Sports Academy in Pune. Her power-hitting left me amazed. I and our president Dr PA Inamdar went to her after the match and asked her at which club she is training. She said, koi club nahi hai sir, fun ke liye khelti hoon. Mujhe athletics mey kuch karna hai, waise bhi cricket kaafi costly game hai. (I don’t represent any club. I play cricket for fun and want to do something in athletics because cricket is very costly.),” Gulzar Sheikh recalled in an interview with The Indian Express.

She used to throw shot put and javelin, maybe that’s the secret of her power-hitting: Kiran Navgire’s coach

Navigre’s call-up to the national team did not surprise her coach, who highlighted her tremendous power-hitting abilities. She entered the record books by scoring 162 off 76 for Nagaland against Arunachal in the Senior Women’s T20 Trophy earlier this year, becoming the only Indian (man or woman) to score over 150 in a T20 match.

“She is a natural power-hitter. I don’t know the exact reason, but she once told me that her strength comes from helping out on her family’s farm as a child and from the variety of sports she played growing up. She used to throw shot put and javelin; maybe that’s the secret of her power-hitting,” he added.