Ekta Bisht

A veteran left-arm spinner, Ekta Bisht is the first cricketer from Uttarakhand to make it to the India women's team. Overcoming a lot of struggles in her early days, Bisht began playing cricket at the age of six and in 2017, soon became the first Indian to be named in both the official ICC T20I and the ODI teams of the year.

Deciding to pursue cricket full time, the teenage prodigy went on to not only represent her state, Uttarakhand but also captain the side. After a few grinding domestic seasons for her state team, there was no national call-up, much to the dismay of the young spinner.

The long wait came to an end in 2011, when she received a call-up from the national side. Her first match in an Indian jersey, unfortunately, was against one of the toughest women teams in the world, Australia. In 2011, soon after Bisht made her debut in an ODI against Australia, Ekta would go on to build a reputation as a stingy bowler in international cricket over the next few years, picking up a few memorable bowling figures, especially against Pakistan and Sri Lanka. 

Her outstanding performance continued in international cricket and in 2012, she took a hat-trick in the ICC Women’s T20, as India were successful in restricting Sri Lanka to only 100 runs. Five years down the line, the Almora-born spinner transformed herself into one of the most senior players in the women’s team. Bisht became the talk of the town when she clinched 5 wickets against arch-rivals Pakistan in the 3rd group stage match of the 2017 World Cup in a comfortable victory against the Women in Green.

One of the few players who featured in the only Test match against England Women, in May 2021, Ekta was called up to the national side for their one-off match against the England women’s team despite being snubbed from the central contract from BCCI. At the age of 35, Ekta’s seniority in the national side might play a major role in grooming the youngsters in the upcoming years.

(As of June 2021)