Her father’s dream: Himachal pacer was referred to as up for the primary time for the ladies’s T20 cricket staff

Renuka misplaced her father Kehar Singh Thakur on the age of three, and as quickly as she was given her first call-up within the Indian girls’s T20 staff, she was impressed by her father’s ardour for cricket and one among her youngsters. Missed the urge to play. India.

“It is an emotional day for me and I cannot describe the feeling of being chosen. My father loved cricket and named my elder brother Vinod after his favorite cricketer Vinod Kambli. My father died when I was very young, perhaps it was his passion and guidance that saw me playing cricket in my village. I am sure he will be cheering from heaven when I board a flight to Australia and get a chance to don the Indian jersey,” stated an emotional Renuka whereas talking to The Indian Express from Bengaluru.

While her father labored within the Irrigation and Public Health Department of Himachal Pradesh in Rohru, his demise in 1999 meant that the accountability of the household fell on the shoulders of Renuka’s mom Sunita. She joined the division in 2000 as a Class IV worker and a younger Renuka confirmed curiosity in enjoying cricket within the village floor close to Kundi Nallah, Sunita used to encourage her daughter. “My husband wanted both his children to play sports and watch them make the country proud. After his death due to illness, it was a difficult period for the family. But I never stopped my son and daughter to play any sport. When I used to work in Rohru, Ritika used to spend her time playing cricket with her elder brother Vinod and his friends in the village grounds. Sometimes she used to go to other villages to play cricket. Later, when she got selected for HPCA Academy, it meant she stayed away from us but seeing her selected in the Indian women’s team today is a reward for all those days,” stated Sunita.

Renuka’s eager curiosity was seen by her uncle Bhupinder Singh Thakur, who hails from the identical village and works as a bodily schooling trainer on the Government College in Shimla. He prompt to the household that Ritika enroll in HPCA Women’s Residential Academy in Dharamsala. “Renuka would always call her brother and cousins ​​to play in the village ground and bowl to them for hours, be it summer or winter. When the HPCA Academy trials were announced, we decided to send him there and it is the hard work of him and his coaches that has seen him make it to the Indian team,” Bhupinder stated.

At the HPCA Women’s Residential Academy in Dharamsala, the brainchild of former BCCI president Anurag Singh Thakur, Renuka will get an opportunity to coach underneath HPCA coach Pawan Sen and power and conditioning coach Veena Pandey. While Renuka will quickly play for Himachal Under-16 and Under-19 groups, the teenager may even play for Himachal’s senior staff and emerged because the main wicket-taker within the BCCI Women’s One Day Tournament in 2019 with 23 wickets.

In the identical 12 months Renuka was chosen for the India A girls’s staff’s tour of Australia, moreover being named for the India A squad for the quadrangular sequence comprising Bangladesh, Thailand and India B, during which she took three wickets in 4 matches. “When she came to HPCA Academy in 2009, she was very fit. Usually the girls of Rohru belt are quite fit and she always wanted to be a fast bowler. We worked on his fitness and also made him cross country twice a week to build his stamina. Gradually, he gained momentum in his bowling and his greatest strength has been his control over the line and length and the inswinger. In 2016, he took a hat-trick in an Under-19 match against Karnataka and it inspired him a lot. Lately, we have worked on her bowling leg-cutter and I am sure if given a chance, she can do well for India,” Sen stated.

Renuka with HPCA coach Pawan Sen.

This 12 months Renuka has taken a complete of 9 wickets within the BCCI Senior Women’s One Day Trophy in March and if given an opportunity underneath Harmanpreet Kaur’s T20I captaincy, she could be trying to bowl in Australia, which is thought for its quick pitches. Is. “While I may solely play one match throughout India A’s tour of Australia in 2019, bowling within the nets in addition to the apply pitches made me perceive the circumstances. Renuka, an idol of Punjab girls’s cricketer Harpreet Dhillon and a fan of former Indian pacer Zaheer Khan, says, “The pitches in Australia provide bounce and good pace and hopefully I can use it when given the opportunity.”

Another HPCA cricketer Harleen Deol, who hails from Mohali, has additionally been included within the Indian girls’s T20 staff. As far as mom Sunita is anxious, it is going to be the best pleasure to see her daughter carrying the India jersey. Sunita stated, “Whenever he gets a chance, I will cheer for him and it will be the proudest moment for my late husband as well.”