Vaishnavi — India’s new orchestrator

The year was 2025. Left-arm spinner Vaishnavi Sharma had made her T20I debut for India against Sri Lanka in Visakhapatnam. She went wicketless but conceded only 16 runs in her four-over spell. After the game, she was snapped sheepishly skirting around the press conference room.

“Jis baat ka dar tha, wahi hua mere saath (What I feared has happened to me),” a nervous Vaishnavi had told the BCCI videoperson tailing players for their post-match vlog.

Almost a year and seven India fixtures later, Vaishnavi — now 14 wickets old in international cricket — was not any less nervous when entering the sprawling but sparsely populated media room at the BCA Stadium in Kotambi. She had just taken a sensational five-wicket haul to help India clinch the third ODI against Zimbabwe. This after coolly picking four wickets in the second fixture a few days earlier.