22-year-old India Women’s fast bowler Kranti Goud’s journey to international glory is one inspiring story. Born and brought up in Chhatarpur, Madhya Pradesh, Kranti is the youngest of her six siblings. Her parents struggled to provide and make ends meet.
Kranti’s father, Munna Singh, who used to work in police, left his job in 2012, and the whole family had to shift from the government house. Her elder brother left school and started working to help sustain them. Despite the uncertainty, Kranti’s father supported her dream of playing cricket. Her mother also sold her jewellery to make ends meet, and Kranti continues to keep playing.
As a 12-year-old, she used to chase cricket balls barefoot with no kits or shoes available and used to play tennis ball cricket with boys. After reaching 14 years of age, she started playing with a leather ball. After completing class 8, her school life ended, but that marked the beginning of her journey in cricket.
Kranti, who idolizes Team India cricketer Hardik Pandya, has similar aspirations to become an all-rounder like him. During a local match, Kranti came in as a replacement, and her bowling performance got her the Player of the Match award.
Impressed by her game, coach Rajiv Bilthre took her under him and invited her to play in the Sports Authority of India (SAI) Academy in 2017. He provided her with her first uniform and gave her 1,600 rupees to buy cricket shoes.
Kranti was coached there for free, and her talent was nurtured. Coach saw her abilities and worked on her batting technique. Training there, she then made her district debut as part of Madhya Pradesh’s senior team in 2023-24. Kranti, as part of her district, then led them to the state-level tournament finals.
Kranti’s prominence followed in the 2024-25 season as part of Madhya Pradesh’s first domestic one-day title. She then made her debut for the Women’s Premier League 2025, where she was picked by the UP Warriorz at the auction for INR 10 lakh. Her success then landed her on the India Women’s senior team.
As part of the national team, she made her WODI debut in the Sri Lanka Women’s tri-series against South Africa, followed by her T20I debut in the fifth match at Birmingham during the England tour back in July. In that tour, during the third ODI match against England in Chester-le-Street, the fast bowler ended with a figure of 6/52. With that, Kranti became the second Indian player to take five wickets in a single match.
Currently, that player is making her World Cup for the Indian team and has successfully achieved four wickets in two matches played so far. In the last match against Pakistan, she picked up three wickets for 20 runs and was declared Player of the Match.
Making her dreams true today, Kranti wishes to provide other women the same she received. During an interview she said, “It is time for me to give back. I want girls in my academy to play without worrying about money.”
From playing barefoot to becoming ‘Player of the Match,’ today Kranti has earned her place as India’s new star fast bowler.
· Inputs sourced from [ESPNCricinfo,Instagram]
