Enter Arundhati Reddy’s home and also you don’t get the sense that it’s the residence of a seasoned cricketer, not to mention one who was part of the victorious Indian group within the current Ladies’s ODI World Cup.
The big, breezy rooms — and even the detailed inside work, executed to her style — seem fairly ‘regular’ till your eyes fall on a photograph body below her tv, that includes Arundhati receiving her T20I cap from Mithali Raj.
“She doesn’t need something on show,” Arundhati’s mom Bhagya tells The Hindu. “She stated, ‘Amma, I’m enjoying as a result of it’s my factor, I get pleasure from it. I don’t need to placed on a present.’ I requested her a number of occasions, however it was a stable no.”
Brick by brick
Her daughter’s haul of medals and trophies adorns her bed room partitions as an alternative, as a nod to the fulfilment of sporting desires she might by no means realise. A former State-level volleyball participant, Bhagya, a single guardian, devoted her life to constructing Arundhati the cricketer, brick by brick.
Arundhati bears the teachings of a tough life. She is blissful to fly below the radar and let her craft converse for itself.
Gratitude as angle: Arundhati welcomes each constructive with open arms nowadays. ‘The journey wasn’t very straightforward,’ she says. ‘However I wouldn’t need it some other manner.’
| Photograph Credit score:
G. Ramakrishna
Used primarily instead fielder within the World Cup, Arundhati, anticlimactically, discovered herself cheering from the sidelines and operating drinks as an alternative.
Renuka Singh emerged because the tempo spearhead after Jhulan Goswami’s retirement; her efficacy within the PowerPlay made her a positive starter when match. A younger Kranti Gaud, together with her penchant for pace and fearlessness to assault, discovered herself amongst wickets towards high quality opponents within the run-up to the World Cup. Arundhati dropped down the pecking order regardless of being a imply swing bowler and a useful bat. Her oscillating economy-rate didn’t assist her trigger both.
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However when India clinched the title, the contingent waxed eloquent about Arundhati’s influence on the group’s morale.
“Whenever you’re not enjoying, it’s troublesome,” she says. “You’re consistently ready for an opportunity. However I felt like this World Cup wasn’t nearly me. I’m a non-public individual. Even when I wasn’t feeling my greatest, I needed to placed on a smile and head to coaching as a result of I didn’t need any negativity rubbing off on these round me. Till my time comes, I’m okay clapping for others.”
This case tragically mirrored what her life was like in early 2025. She was dropped regardless of a stellar haul (4 for 26) within the third ODI towards Australia at Perth late final 12 months and an individually first rate T20 World Cup earlier than that.
“I didn’t talk about it when the drop occurred. I cried the complete night time, confirmed up the following morning, performed a match wherever I used to be, went again and cried once more. There was a three-day break throughout which I didn’t step out of the room. I had at all times been rewarded for doing properly, however not being picked regardless of a superb run was a primary. Took me some time to grasp that, ultimately, solely cricket stays with you.”
That knowledge got here in useful for Arundhati when attempting to be there for her pals, one thing a bawling Jemimah Rodrigues gushed about after a match-winning century to knock out holder Australia within the semifinals.
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“I’ve had my share of tension and panic assaults. Jemi’s one in every of my greatest pals. You wouldn’t need to see anybody undergo what she did. Credit score to her for talking in public. It’ll assist individuals know they aren’t alone in that have.”
Betting on herself
Arundhati’s maturity comes from the unwavering assist of her mom and brother Rohit. For it was they who stood by her when she went by way of the grinding wheel of feelings earlier than doing what many in India think about sacrilegious — quitting a well-set authorities job to pursue sports activities.
“After I left Railways, many known as me silly. I used to be then near being unsold within the first Ladies’s Premier League public sale, till Delhi Capitals picked me within the accelerated spherical. Possibly it was silly. Possibly I used to be mad. However I’m actually grateful that every part fell into place. Issues might’ve gone both manner. I might’ve regarded like an fool or a mastermind.
“Everyone was busy blaming me, however no person realised that I left with loads of doubts and uncertainty from my household as properly, as a result of I used to be the one who had to offer for my household financially. I knew I had a accountability to pay the loans and whatnot. I didn’t know the place cash would come from.”
Unshakeable bond: Bhagya, a single guardian, has devoted her life to constructing Arundhati the cricketer.
| Photograph Credit score:
G. Ramakrishna
That call-making course of on a cellphone name together with her household, in truth, performed out in public in Bengaluru.
“I didn’t suppose it might be such an emotional name with my household, the place I used to be crying my coronary heart out. There’s an auto stand outdoors the Shangri-La resort. I hid behind one of many autos. I used to be there for round two hours, simply sobbing and hoping that no person would recognise me.”
The pacer is the apple of her mom’s eye, however come matchday and Arundhati doesn’t need her mom anyplace close to her. “I used to be nonetheless undecided whether or not to name her for the [World Cup] closing or not as a result of each time she had come within the WPL, we had misplaced within the finals.”
For the World Cup although, Bhagya thought forward and requested if she could possibly be in attendance for a probably historic second. “The least I might do for my group was not calling mother [laughs], however when she requested, I didn’t need to cease her.”
There was a time in India’s marketing campaign when it regarded like it might be denied the prospect to struggle for the trophy. Three gutting losses — to South Africa, Australia and England — left the host with a number of uncomfortable inquiries to deal with.
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“It’s good that the losses occurred. When issues aren’t going properly, it exams your character. We got here collectively much more as a group, as a result of we knew we had no different selection.
“After we stepped into the D.Y. Patil Stadium, I bear in mind Vijay Patil sir telling us, ‘You’ve come on the proper time. You’ll not be let down right here’. I feel it’s now most gamers’ favorite floor by a mile.”
Path to enchancment: A imply swing bowler, Arundhati might be trying to tackle her oscillating economy-rate to drive her manner again into the XI.
| Photograph Credit score:
Getty Photos
Weeks have handed, and Arundhati has simply began letting free and soaking within the victory. Celebrations on the night time of the win noticed her break her sugar abstinence. Gulab jamuns and ice lotions have been savoured in beneficiant quantities. However the next day, she was again to her routine.
Only the start
Arundhati is conscious that that is only the start, and she or he should get going from zero once more, beginning with WPL-4, the place she’s going to end up for Royal Challengers Bengaluru after the franchise’s successful bid of ₹75 lakh in Thursday’s public sale. She had been earlier launched by Delhi Capitals.
With a number of WPL finals performed, the world crown received, and having pressured her manner again into nationwide reckoning, Arundhati now welcomes each constructive, nonetheless huge or small, with open arms whereas realizing that the hurdles alongside the way in which are simply that — hurdles and never the tip of the world.
“If I might meet my youthful self, I might say, ‘You probably did properly’. The journey wasn’t very straightforward. However I wouldn’t need it some other manner.”
