"In India, there is a question mark over everything women do:" Jhulan Goswami

Jhulan Goswami is on her way to play her fifth ODI World Cup in her cricket career of 20+ years. Since her India debut in 2002, the bowler featured in 274 matches for India. In fact, she holds the record for the most number of wickets in ODI women's cricket. Just a few days before the upcoming ODI World Cup she recalls many aspects of cricket and how it has changed over the past years.

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Jhulan spoke on how fast bowling has changed and evolved over the years. She significantly implied the necessities of physical exercise. Along with that, she added the reasons behind many women fast bowlers are switching to spin, and a lot more.

In an interview with Annesha Ghosh, Jhulan discussed when and how she noticed the trend shift in her career of more than two decades. "Amita Sharma, Rumeli Dhar, and I played as the three front-line seamers in an XI for the best part of a decade. Noosheen and Neetu David would be the two spinners. Sometimes Deepa Kulkarni would play as the third spinner. Rumeli would slot in as the batting allrounder, Amita and I would be the bowlers who could bat. That was the combination for a long time and the change was largely down to the gradual improvement in the quality of wickets for women's cricket, especially after the merging .

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I was very impressed with her action: Jhulan on Ellyse Perry

Jhulan Goswami was all in praise for Ellyse Perry. Jhulan believes that the Australian cricketer is the best pace bowling all-rounder she ever witnessed. On being asked about the best pace-bowling allrounder she ever saw, she replied, "Ellyse Perry. Just before her international debut, she came to India as part of a New South Wales squad. Alyssa Healy and Erin Osborne were also in it. We played Perry during a practice game in Mysore, which we lost. I was very impressed with her action - she had a good, high-arm action - and she was quite quick. Her progress has been phenomenal."

She further added, "She debuted as a bowler but went on to become a genuine allrounder who can bat excellently across formats. It's no joke to be able to do that - high-quality fast bowling opening the innings, and batting Nos. 4 and 5 consistently. Australia have an immense reputation as a cricket-playing nation and in women's cricket obviously, they have been the most successful team, so the pressure is even higher. It requires a lot of discipline and good work ethic, otherwise, you cannot be that consistent across all formats."

There is still that gap in terms of coaches, strength-and-conditioning personnel: Jhulan Goswami

When asked about the difference in preparation at the domestic level, she discussed the pattern and processes. "Well, in domestic cricket in India, it is pretty much entirely the players' job, which is why so many of our young pacers leave the game early or switch to spin because there is not much guidance that they get. Our domestic set-up is not as evolved as Australia or England. Only if you individually take ownership of looking after your body do you have a chance of succeeding at the domestic level and progressing to the national level," said Jhulan.
She further said, "You may have all the information, or most of it is available on the internet or from the state association, but there is still that gap in terms of coaches, strength-and-conditioning personnel, and trainers not being available to domestic players. And some states may not give you the kind of facilities like others do, so as a player, the responsibility is yours to improve your skills and your processes."

Women's cricket saw a shift in spinners taking the key role these days. Jhulan said on this, In the past four-five years, we've seen spin take on a more prominent role than it had in the earlier years . To my mind, that's because the concept of the game has changed, primarily because of T20. The dynamism that spinners bring to an attack is indispensable. T20 has been the primary vehicle for the growth of the women's game in the last ten years or so, and the WBBL's arrival has coincided with this phase. So spin making a comeback is no surprise."

Information sourced from Annesha Ghosh's interview at The Cricket Monthly.