This is Bharti Fulmali, her story is one of perseverance and late recognition in Indian women's cricket.
She began playing cricket at around 13 years of age and made her senior domestic debut when she was just 17 for the Vidarbha Women's Cricket Team.
Unlike some Indian stars who came through national age-group teams quickly, Fulmali spent many years grinding in domestic cricket. She consistently performed for Vidarbha and became known for her fearless batting style and ability to hit sixes. She made her India debut in 2019 but did not become a regular member of the Indian team.
Many players would have given up, but she continued working on her game in domestic cricket. For several years she remained outside the national setup while continuing to score runs and perform consistently.
The arrival of the WPL gave Fulmali another opportunity to showcase her talent. Her powerful batting in domestic cricket and franchise cricket brought her back into the spotlight. She became known as an explosive middle-order batter capable of changing matches quickly. Following two good WPL seasons she has earned her place back in the India set up and scored an impressive 56 of 40 balls.
She has spoken at length how people judge her on her look and against societal expectations of what a woman should look like. Not every female has the archetypal feminine looks.
She is a female playing womens cricket, judge her on her cricketing ability and that alone. Anyone who questions her gender does for clicks or $$ is a disgusting human.
๐ฃ๏ธ โShe is just my absolute favourite player.โ โค๏ธ
377 runs @ 53.85 in the WPL ๐
187 runs @ 62.33 on Indiaโs white-ball tour of Australia so far ๐ฎ๐ณ
Smriti Mandhana is in the form of her life ๐
Watch the latest episode of The Scoop ๐ https://t.co/AjNFy5kSmS
๐ก๐ฒ๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ผ๐ฝ: ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฟ๐ฎ! ๐
But first, a special pitstop at the iconic Bradman Museum in Bowral ๐
#TeamIndia | #AUSvIND
A tale from one four-wicket haul to another โค๏ธ
And a Successful Sydney outing ๐๏ธ
Hear it from Arundhati Reddy ๐ - By @mihirlee_58#TeamIndia | #AUSvIND | @reddyarundhati