On Saturday, 27-year-old cricketer Sneh Rana scored an unbeaten 80 at No. 8 in her first international outing since 2016 and helped India draw the one-off Test against England in Bristol. In the process, she became the 1st Indian woman and 4th overall to have a fifty-plus score and a 4-wicket haul on Test debut.
What made her performance stand out, even more, was that she played for India just 2 months after her father Bhagwan Singh Rana passed away due to a heart attack. He worked as a farmer in Sinaula on the outskirts of Dehradun, TOI reports.
Her elder sister Ruchi explained Sneh’s situation stating, “She was very upset after papa passed away, but did not give up training. It was like a balm for her, even though we knew she was in distress.”
Her coach Kiran Shah said, “Sneh has given a fitting tribute to her father through her performance which has incidentally come just a day before Father’s Day. It is an extremely proud moment for all of us and a reward for Sneh’s decade-long dedication and hard work. She came to me for coaching when she was nine years old.”
Recalling her cricketing journey, Kiran’s husband Narendrah Shah revealed, “She was too shy to play in front of us. Our academy coach Kiran Sah coaxed her to bat. She was exceptional.”
“In our academy, girls are forced to face the pace bowling of big boys and that is why they get to hone different aspects of their cricketing skills,” Kiran added.
Sneh went on to play in the U-19 and senior levels for Punjab and Haryana before being selected for Railways. She made her India debut in the year 2019.
However, her cricketing journey has not been easy. A knee injury and a string of unsatisfactory performances saw her fall out of favour from the selectors. Yet she didn’t lose hope and joined the Abhimanyu Cricket Academy, determined to make a comeback.
Coach Manoj Rawat revealed, “She was recovering from a knee injury, and I got her connected to the U Mumba kabaddi team physio. She gradually recovered and started working on her all-round game. I spoke to her almost every day during the Test and encouraged her to prove herself as a batter.”
Earlier this year, she returned to the side on the back of her domestic performance in the 50-over format earlier this year. She led the Railways in the league stage and was the highest wicket-taker with 18 scalps. She scored 160 runs at a strike rate of 123.07 in the middle-order, and it proved to be pivotal to their victorious campaign.
Her Railways’ teammate Shubh Lakshmi Sharma said, “She is very cool as a leader and never panics in difficult situations. She reads the game very well.”
What do you think of her journey? Tell us.
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