Who is Kiran Navgire? - The Indian batter who smashed the fastest half-century in Women's T20 Challenge

Born and brought up in Solapur, a small city in the state of Maharashtra, Kiran Navgire started her cricketing journey in the year 2016, when she switched to the sport leaving athletics behind. Before joining cricket, Navgire invested her time in javelin throw, shot put, and relay running but decided to move to cricket after winning multiple medals and trophies in athletics.

Navgire idolized Indian cricketing legend MS Dhoni and looked up to him. Dhoni’s calmness and six-hitting abilities inspired her to do much more in the sport. While batters usually look to start off their innings with some singles and doubles to settle on the field, Navgire has a different style. She gains much more confidence if she hits a six early in her innings, and that’s what keeps her motivated.

She made a mark in the domestic setup in the recently concluded Senior Women’s T20 trophy while playing for Nagaland. The 26-year-old hammered 525 runs and also led the leaderboard for scoring the most runs in the tournament. After not being selected by her home state Maharashtra, Navgire opted to play for Nagaland.

She smacked a 76-ball 162 against Arunachal Pradesh in her debut game and became the first Indian, male or female, to cross the 150-run mark in an individual innings in T20 cricket. Nagaland advanced to the knockout stages thanks to her steady efforts, but the team missed the mark of the quarterfinals.

Navgire broke multiple records at the WT20 Challenge 2022 on debut

She broke a couple of records while playing for Velocity in the ongoing Women’s T20 Challenge to mark her debut in style. In the third game against the defending champions Trailblazers, a lot was at stake for Navgire’s side as they had to chase a humongous target of 191 runs. While it looked very difficult, Navgire made it seem like a piece of cake when she notched up the fastest half-century in the history of the tournament on her debut.

Her grit and determination in the game showed how desperately she wanted her team to win the match in order to reach the finals. With a six, Navgire achieved the half-century mark in just 25 balls, breaking Shafali Verma’s previous record of 30 balls for the fastest half-century in the tournament’s history. Looking at her performances in recent times, Navgire has a very bright future ahead of her and she surely has the potential to represent India on the global stage.