With 348 runs from seven matches including a vital 77 runs in the final against Uttar Pradesh, Neena Choudhary was instrumental in Himachal winning the Senior Women’s Plate group final. A consistent performer for her team with an average of 69.90, the batsman finished as the highest run-getter in the league. She scored two half-centuries and an unbeaten century in the tournament as she helped her team book a place in the finals and later win it.
“We have reached the final for the first time and won. So we take a lot of pride in that,” says Choudhary reflecting on the women’s one-day league.
In the all-important final, she helped set up the match with a crucial knock that ensured Himachal set the opposition a competitive 185-run target.
Speaking about her innings in the final the No.3 batsman said, “We had lost the first wicket early (with 18 runs on the board) so I had to go and settle in and then score runs, and get the team into a good position. I took my time and was focussed so the runs also came. That helped us put up a good total.”
Discussing her partnership with opener M Devi (56 runs) to shape the innings, Choudhary said, “I said to her, ‘we have lost one wicket upfront, but it will be okay; we have to have (at least) one good partnership. That can put our team in a good position. We have to play as long as we can. She played well and we had good partnership so feels good (that we could do what we had set out to do).”
Looking back on her performance in the one-day league, she said, “I am feeling good to have scored 348 runs.” The top order bat had also scored a century in the league phase. Reflecting on the unbeaten 103-run knock, she said, “I had scored the century against Chhattisgarh. In that match too we had lost an early wicket. I worked with my partner to build a partnership. K Verma too played well – scored 91 runs. It was a partnership of over 150 runs (191) which helped the team. I played through the innings which enabled me to score a hundred.”
Discussing her batting, she said, “I focus more on scoring singles and doubles. When there is a (steady) flow of runs, then boundaries also keep coming. I don’t go for the big shots. I play along the ground and try to score in front of the wicket, in the ‘V’.”
“We had one camp in Dharamshala where we worked on various aspects of the game. Pushpanjali (Banerjee) ma’am had conducted the camp. We did good training and also worked on our fitness. In Himachal the weather is cool but where we were to play in places like Nagpur the weather is hot so we worked on our fitness accordingly,” she elaborated while speaking about the preparations ahead of the season.
Choudhary, who is from Sundar Nagar in Mandi District started playing for Himachal in 2008. Before, that she would play with friends in her area unaware that professional cricket is played by women too. “In the beginning didn’t have much idea about cricket and if there is women’s cricket in the first place. I would play with friends near the house as a kid and that’s where it started. When I came to know in 2007, then in 2008 I tried for Himachal and got into the team. I made it to the Under-19s and played for the senior team as well in the same season.”
“At that time one of the girls from Himachal - Sapna Randhawa was selected for the India camp. I came to know about cricket for women when I read about that in the newspaper. Then I went for the trials (and from then on I have been playing).”
I started playing since 2008, and in 2011 I was selected to play in the North Zone team for Himachal. Except for 2012 I have since played for North Zone regularly.
In the off-season the focus is on match practice, knocking and fitness,” says Choudhary, whose idol is Sachin Tendulkar. She also finds inspiration in Mithali Raj and Harmanpreet Kaur who represent India says the part-time medium-pacer.
With a successful one-day campaign under her belt, Choudhary now has her sights set on the senior women’s twenty20 league 2016-17.
