Renuka Singh Thakur, best known for her outstanding wicket-keeping performance in the 2019-20 Senior Women’s One Day League, is India’s current spin sensation. Before having her international break, Renuka had already impressed the cricket associations and organizers with her top-tier bowling skills and was the star of the domestic cricket news during her early career. Keep on reading to know more about her cricketing journey.
Born on 02nd January 1996, in the capital city of Shimla of the ‘Land of Gods’ or Himachal Pradesh, Renuka Singh Thakur is a right-arm medium-fast bowler of India who made her international debut in 2021 and has made her name in One-Day Internationals and T20 Internationals with her snarky bowling deliveries.
EARLY LIFE OF RENUKA
Her love affair with the sport started early in her life. She discovered the sport through her brother when she was just a little kid. Initially, she used to watch her brother and his friends play the sport in their home but soon started accompanying him to the village ground.
Her father, Kehar Singh Thakur, used to work for the Irrigation and Public Health Department of Himachal Pradesh at Rohru, her mother was a homemaker. But after the unfortunate death of her father in 1999, her mother, Sunita Thakur, became the breadwinner of the family and started to work in the Himachal Pradesh Irrigation and Public Health Department as a group IV employee. According to Renuka, her mother never forced her or her brother to quit their passion for the sport, despite her family’s financial condition. While her mother went to work at Rohru, Thakur practiced with her brother every day at the village ground at Rohru. She sometimes used to go to other villages to compete with different teams.
Her love for cricket continued to grow, and she decided to pursue her passion professionally in 2009. Her uncle, Bhupendra Singh Thakur, a government college teacher in Shimla, encouraged her to pursed her passion for cricket professionally. Renuka Singh Thakur finally enrolled herself at the states’ Cricket Association’s women’s residential academy located in Dharmshala.
In one of her interviews, Renuka Singh Thakur revealed her family was the reason behind her decision to play cricket professionally and that they believed in her abilities more than she did. After her father’s death, her mother made sure to fulfill all her needs and desires, while her brother Vinod helped her with the training.
RENUKA THAKUR’S DOMESTIC CAREER
She did her training under the guidance of Pawan Singh and Veena Pandey and competed in the Himachal Pradesh Under-16 and Under-19 tournaments.
She was selected for a One-Day match by the Board of Control for Cricket in India in 2019. Thakur shook everyone with her wicket-keeping skills as she took 23 dismissals in the match. It was the highest in that match by any bowler. Impressed by her performance, organizers of the Board of Control for Cricket in India selected Thakur for India’s women’s team in their Australia tour. In that same year, she also played for India against Thailand, Bangladesh, and India B. She knocked off three wickets in four matches.
RENUKA THAKUR’S T20 CAREER
Renuka Singh Thakur made her debut in T20 cricket against Australia in October 2021 during India’s women’s tour of Australia. The match, however, ended without any result as it was interrupted by rain. Thakur gave 27 runs in her 4 overs of bowling in her second match against Australia Women. In her third match, she picked up a single wicket of Alyssa Healy and gave 23 runs in her 4 overs of bowling.
Her performance during the 2022 Commonwealth Games Women’s Cricket Competition during India’s tour of Australia was phenomenal. In her first match of the series against Australia Women, Thakur knocked off four wickets in her four overs of bowling at an economy rate of 4.50. She picked up a single wicket for 20 runs in her 4 overs against Pakistan Women. Thakur was back with a bang in her next match against Barbados Women, where she took 4 wickets while giving a mere 10 runs and helped India secure its place in the semi-finals. Thakur knocked off two wickets in the finals against Australia Women at an economy rate of 6.25, leading India to a 9-run victory. Overall, she took 11 wickets in the series and became the highest wicket-taker in the competition.
Another memorable T20 performance from Thakur came during the 2022 Women’s Asia Cup in a match against Sri Lanka Women, where she knocked off three wickets in three overs at an economy rate of 1.66 while giving a mere five runs, helping India’s 8-wicket victory over Sri Lanka-W. She also won the title of player of the match.
Thakur has picked up a total of 25 wickets in her 29 T20 matches at an average of 26.44 and an economy rate of 6.41.
RENUKA THAKUR’S ONE-DAY CAREER
Thakur made her debut in international cricket in an ODI against New Zealand Women in 2022. Her first ODI wicket came during India Women’s tour of New Zealand when she took a single wicket of Maddy Green in the first ODI. She took 2 for 33 in 4 overs in her second ODI.
Overall, she has 18 One-Day wickets to her name at an average of 14.88 and an economy rate of 4.62.
Another memorable performance from her came during the 2022 India Women’s tour of Sri Lanka. She picked up 3 wickets for 29 runs in 6 overs at an economy rate of 4.83 in the first ODI, and took 4 wickets for 28 runs at an economy rate of 2.80 in the second ODI of the series and won the title for the player of the match in the second ODI.
Thakur’s career-best performance came during the 2022 India’s tour of England, where she knocked off four wickets in the second and the third ODI of the series against England Women. She also won the title of the player of the match for her 4-wicket haul at an economy rate of 2.90 in the second ODI.
FUTURE PROJECTS
Thakur is all set to make her IPL debut in the 2023 inaugural season of the tournament. She is sold to the Bangalore-based franchise (Royal Challengers Bangalore) for 1.5 crores in February 2023.
