Her entire cricketing journey flashed before former spinner Neetu David’s eyes when she became only the second Indian woman to be inducted into the ICC’s Hall of Fame.
It was an emotional moment for the 47-year-old, who joined Diana Edulji when ICC named her alongside men’s greats A B de Villiers and Alastair Cook as the latest entrants to the select club. David is currently the chief selector of the Indian women’s cricket team.
The current generation has best of facilities at its disposal but it wasn’t the case for David and her contemporaries who spent majority of their international careers with hardly any resources before BCCI took women’s cricket under its wings in November 2006.
“I was surprised and excited at the same time. I didn’t know I was only the second Indian woman (to enter Hall of Fame) until I started getting messages.
“The moment took me back to the early days of cricket where we hardly had any facilities but kept going with support of fellow teammates and family,” David, the first Indian to take 100 ODI wickets, told PTI.
Known for her exceptional ability to generate flight and dip, David still holds the record for the best figures in an innings — 8/53 against England in 1995, in Women’s Tests.
She hails from Uttar Pradesh but made her name in domestic cricket in the Railways team where she succeeded Edulji before going on to replace the latter at the highest level.
“When I started playing for India, there were effectively no facilities and the support I got from my colleagues at the district and state level made a huge difference,” she recalled.
“When I got into Railways, Diana didi helped me a lot. The support of my family was tremendous. With women’s cricket being revolutionised, I feel immensely happy seeing the current cricketers are getting their due.
“The BCCI has changed the face of women’s game in the country,” said David, who steered India to the ODI World Cup final in 2005.
In a career spanning 13 years, David got to play under multiple captains including including Purnima Rau, Pramila Bhatt, Mithali Raj and Anjum Chopra.
“All the captains I played had different style but I enjoyed working with all of them.”
Belonging to the tribe of left-armers, David gets excited when she sees a fellow spinner doing well in international cricket.
She holds Radha Yadav and Rajeshwari Gaekwad in high regard but relates more to England’s star bowler Sophie Ecclestone, who has maintained the top position in the ICC rankings for a long time,
“All three are different. Radha bowls fast, Sophie flights the ball really well and gets the most of out her height. Rajeshwari can flight, bowl slow and the faster one as well.
“Having said that, Sophie is better and reminds me of myself but Radha and Rajewhwari are also very good.”
David might be the second Indian woman to enter the Hall of Fame but considering the increased amount of women’s cricket happening nowadays, the number is bound to grow.
“Under the BCCI, the girls are getting a lot of opportunities, lot of matches and therefore you will see a long list of achievers in the future,” she added.
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