Published By: Saksham Mishra

Not the ideal end for Jhulan Goswami

Jhulan Goswami did a brilliant job for India once again, in another World Cup campaign.

Impressive WC figures

She sparkled in the 2022 ODI edition, picking up 7 wickets from 6 matches at an average of 30. What stood out was her brilliant economic rate of 4.36.

She gave India the control that the team required desperately, particularly with the lack of experience in their bowling unit. The legend invariably picked up one wicket in the powerplay and came back to provide some tight death overs.

Brain behind the longevity

Here's Jhulan Goswami shedding light on the difficulty of being a fast bowler.

"It's not easy to be a medium-pacer. You need a lot of athleticism, and even if you have that, after a point there is bound to be a lot of wear and tear. So once you reach a certain age, your athleticism will not matter as much as your ability to manage and prevent injuries. Injuries can be really frustrating for fast bowlers. Until, say, the last six, seven years, we didn't play as many games as we do now. So for a fast bowler to be injured and then spend a lot of time on the bench while her team-mates made the most of whatever few games the team got - it would get very frustrating, doing those monotonous rehab exercises."

"After playing consecutive matches within a short period of time, your body is bound to get tired, and not everybody's body is suited to making a quick recovery. When the pace of recovery is not able to keep up with the pace of your expectations, that can mentally bog you down, and as a medium-pacer, you try looking for other options. In women's cricket the choice used to be to either improve your value to the team by becoming a handy batter or to switch to spin, which reduces the stress on your body, which can allow you to extend your career."

A bout of misfortune

Unfortunately, when the team required it the most, in their last league match against South Africa, with their qualification to the semi-final depending on it, Jhulan picked up a side injury on the morning of the match and had to miss out.

It was probably her absence that saw India lose the match by a small margin of 3 wickets on the very last ball of the encounter and get knocked out of the competition.

One can only wish that the 39-year-old legendary Indian pacer was able to get a much better farewell.