\u201cTo be honest, I\u2019m feeling really happy. We just had a match against the South Africa team and we won the championship (by eight wickets in Pune) and that\u2019s when the squad was announced. So, I\u2019m like double happy right now and really excited to go out there and play the Asia Cup and win the Cup for India,\u201d she said in an exclusive conversation with IANS.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Niki\u2019s appointment as India U19 captain for the Asia Cup, following her unbeaten 49 and victory leading the India B team in the U19 tri-series in Pune, is a delightful moment for the right-handed batter who bowls off-spin.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
In 2022, playing in the U19 quadrangular series in Visakhapatnam, Niki was in the reckoning to play for India in the inaugural U19 Women\u2019s T20 World Cup in South Africa in January 2023. Unfortunately, she missed out on selection and saw Shafali Verma-led team win the title.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cBack then, when I was playing the selection matches and quadrangulars, I did think that I have a chance, as I was playing and giving my all. But when I didn\u2019t make the cut and came back home and looked at the things I did right and what went wrong, that\u2019s where I realised for me to get into the World Cup squad, I wasn\u2019t up to the mark to be there.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cI knew I had that kind of skill set and mindset back then, but I realised that now, next time, when I\u2019m in such a situation, I would know what to do. It was the first time World Cup was there, and everyone, including me, was nervous. It was a very different vibe and very competitive back then,\u201d she recalls.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Missing out on playing in the 2023 U19 World Cup instilled in Niki a steadfast resolve to rebound from this setback. The disappointment of missing the U19 World Cup was significant, but instead of dwelling on it, she redirected her energy into self-improvement and aiming to become the best cricketer possible.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know how to explain that feeling, but I just knew that I need to work more harder. I don\u2019t want anyone telling me that you couldn\u2019t do this or that, and that\u2019s why you\u2019re not there. Soon after not getting selected, I went to play the U19 games for Karnataka.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cObviously, the mindset was a little off, because you knew that you could make it, but you couldn\u2019t and I was sad and upset about it. But I made sure that this phase shouldn\u2019t last for long. So the main reason why I\u2019m here right now is what I did in the off-season.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cMy mom supported me throughout those two years. She made sure that I ate the right kind of food, did the right workout, and cricket skills training. I made my goals, routine and prepared everything for the next two years, in what I wanted to be,\u201d she said.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Niki\u2019s slow batting style was thought to have cost her a U19 World Cup spot last time, but this year\u2019s change of approach has brought the desired results. From a very young age, Niki was highly spoken about as the next big thing, especially when she slog-swept Deepti Sharma and others for sixes during the Falcon Cup in Bengaluru in 2021.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Niki\u2019s showings in the previous season of playing U19 and U23 tournaments for Karnataka ensured she still was in the mix to be a part of next World Cup batch. After attending a month-long U19 Women\u2019s High-Performance Camp in Dharamshala, Niki captained India A to the 2024\/25 Women\u2019s U19 T20 Challenger Trophy title in Raipur.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
In that tournament, she hit 162 runs in four matches to bag the Player of the Series award. Niki\u2019s contributions as a top-order batter in the recent tri-series, where she amassed 149 runs, were instrumental in India B\u2019s unbeaten run to the trophy.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cI started training really hard after that, and there was no looking back. I just made sure that now I\u2019m going to work twice as hard, and I\u2019m going to be an even better player because I know what I\u2019m capable of. After that phase, I just made sure that I was the number one in everything.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cThose two years, I worked really hard. Now, I\u2019m truly happy for what I am right now over here. From here on, I just want to show what I can do and just keep growing and work more hard - that\u2019s all I want to do,\u201d she added.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Growing up in Bengaluru, Niki took interest in cricket as a six-year-old when she accompanied her brother to the playground, where he used to play cricket with the boys for fun. After telling her mother she wanted to play, Niki enrolled in a Youth Cricket Academy (whose name she doesn\u2019t remember clearly) at the age of eight in 2015\/16.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cThe coaches and players over there already knew me because they used to see me going to the ground every day in the morning and just do some knocking with the leather balls. So, when I joined, they were really happy. They didn\u2019t have to teach me a lot because I already knew a lot of things. Like I used to do nets, and some fielding with the under 10 and 12 boys.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Niki would soon go for U16 trials as a nine-year-old and got selected for the probables after playing zonal selection games. Despite not making it to the Karnataka team, Niki received selection for a month-long KSCA off-season camp the next year.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
She again attended the U16 trials and got into the team for the tournament held in Vizianagaram in 2017. After playing two years of U16 cricket and putting in the hard yards, Niki finally got into the Karnataka U19 team.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cMy biggest supporter are basically my parents. They\u2019ve always been there and supported me throughout the time I started and be what I am right now. I know of women who don\u2019t get that kind of support from their parents. But my dad and especially my mom, she\u2019s very supportive. She\u2019s always supported me in my cricket and every decision I\u2019ve taken in life,\u201d she added.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Since 2018\/19, Niki has trained at the Just Cricket Academy, under Nasiruddin and few more coaches. She also has a coach called Vinayak, who she has been training under or over two years now, and credits her for taking his game to the next level.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Niki\u2019s usual practice routine is three days dedicated to batting, including some power training. For two days, she does batting and bowling practice on the turf pitches, while one day is just for fielding. She keeps her game sharp by playing matches throughout the off-season.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Her training also includes power-hitting, coming as a result of witnessing this trend in two WPL seasons. \u201cI\u2019ve seen women\u2019s game grow a lot. They\u2019ve become a lot stronger and everyone would just want to be those hitters, and big run scorers. So power hitting plays a very major role now, because if you train very well in that, and have good bat speed, and timing, you would score runs.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cObviously, you need to work on your mindset as well. But you need to have that power now, because just around three years ago, when I used to play for the state in U16, U19 and U23, I didn\u2019t see many women\u2019s players hit sixes. But now in every game, there are girls hitting six-seven sixers in a match.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Niki drew much inspiration from fellow Bangalorean, Rahul Dravid\u2019s cricketing style, throughout her childhood. Unsurprisingly, Niki has included Dravid\u2019s jersey number, 19, in her Instagram handle. However, upon discovering women\u2019s cricket, she found a new role model in fellow right-handed batter Mithali Raj.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cShe\u2019s one of the best players I\u2019ve ever seen. I used to watch a lot of her matches, batting and game videos. I\u2019ve also got an opportunity to play against her twice or thrice, and every time that I played against her, I always noticed what she kept doing.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Niki, an off-spinner, strangely preferred watching leg-spinners like Shane Warne and Anil Kumble, a mystery she hasn\u2019t solved. She loves playing the pull and lofted shots, while her favourite mode of getting a batter out is getting the ball to go through the gate and castle the batter.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Her favourite memory of playing a cricket match as a captain came in 2022, when Karnataka batted first against a really good Bengal side, but were bowled out for just 58. Thoughts began to run twice in the mind about not going to win the match in the Karnataka camp, till Niki told her team before stepping on the field that \u2018we need to win from here and we need to look like we have come here to dominate\u2019.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what happened - we defended the total and Bengal were bowled out for 52, and we won by seven runs. That\u2019s one of my best memory as a captain leading the Karnataka side in my life, as we came out winning from nowhere.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Despite cricket being Niki\u2019s primary focus for the last two years, she finds time to play badminton with friends, relax with family, watch something, and study for her BBA in Sports Management at PES University.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Niki also credits women\u2019s cricket talent scout Nisarg Naik, whom she met during the last U19 World Cup, for his guidance and support. \u201cHe is someone who\u2019s watched my scores for last two years and told me that maybe you need to do this or that and score a little more runs. He\u2019s a very nice human being, and now he\u2019s getting me contracts and supporting me throughout.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Despite cricket being Niki\u2019s primary focus for the last two years, she finds time to play badminton with friends, relax with family, watch something, and study for her BBA in Sports Management at PES University.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Also Read: <\/b> Highest tax paying cricketers<\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\n