New kid on the block - Nisha Majhi - opens bowling despite being a leg-spinner

Kolkata, Dec 11: Nisha Majhi is a new kid on the block in the Indian women’s cricket. She is only 19-years-old and bowls leg spin.

She hogged limelight by capturing five wickets and giving away only 19 runs against Jammu & Kashmir in a BCCI organised match last week. But the interesting part of her story is that this leg-spinner opens with the ball and gets able to crack the opposition batting line-up just as a quality fast bowler generally does.

Nisha has already started making the right noises to get into the senior Indian squad.

Speaking about her ability to execute wicket-taking deliveries with the new ball as a leg-spinner, Nisha said, “Actually I started as medium-pacer. While bowling at the nets I found I was being able to maintain perfect line and length which often put the batsmen in trouble. But I was a fan of Anil Kumble. So, gradually I turned out to become a leg-spinner where Kumble had become my inspiration. I gradually learnt to rely on googlies, flippers rather than trying to roll the ball much in the air.”

Later, Nisha also observed Dipak Patel, the off-spinner from New Zealand who impressed in 1992 World Cup by opening with the new ball. She watched Dipak Patel’s bowling for several times just to learn the technique of keeping the batsmen in trouble.

"The main thing you have to maintain as a bowler is a tight line and length. I have been trying to do that consistently. I know if two things can be consistent and perfect and then the batsmen must be in trouble.”

Nisha was the highest wicket-taker in the under-19 national women’s cricket championship. She comes from a sports background as her father Subhendu Majhi was a footballer. Her mother used to play kabaddi.

Nisha informed this has been an advantage for her to come up from a sports family. Now she is dreaming of getting into the senior Indian team for the Twenty20 World Cup next year.

Nisha signed off saying, “Jhulan Goswami inspires me a lot. I also want to play alongside her in the national team.”