Asha Sobhana with Aaron George Thomas
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

When allrounder Asha Sobhana made her international debut against Bangladesh on May 6, 2024, becoming the oldest Indian woman cricketer to make her debut at the age of 33 years and 51 days, her childhood coach Aaron George Thomas was watching the game in his home in Kumarapuram, Thiruvananthapuram. “She played beautifully; it didn’t seem like she was playing an international game for the first time,” says Aaron about Asha’s performance in the match where she scalped two wickets in three overs, giving away just 18 runs.  

On October 4, as India faced New Zealand in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024, Asha was the first Malayali to play in an ICC Women’s World Cup, and Aaron, a coach who saw his star pupil at the most important cricketing competition in the world. Despite India’s crushing defeat against the Kiwis, Asha dismissed the dangerous opening batter Georgia Plimmer, who scored a blistering 34 runs in 23 balls.  

Varied roles

Aaron, 44, is two decades old as a cricket coach, having started in 2003 by managing a few clubs in the district. In 2004, he became the coach of the Kerala Women’s Senior Cricket team after a stint as the coach of All Saints College in Thiruvananthapuram. From 2007 to 2018, he was a part of the Kerala State men’s team for the Ranji Trophy as a coaching staff. In the mid-2000s, Aaron was one of the first people from Kerala to be part of the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s panel of scorers. He is also a performance analyst who travels regularly with the India Under-19 men and India A teams; he was recently, part of Aries Kollam Sailors, who won the inaugural edition of the Kerala Cricket League, a state-level T20 tournament. Also, Aaron still plays club cricket as an opening batsman in Thiruvananthapuram A Division and has played with former stalwarts from Kerala such as Raiphi Gomez, Padmanabhan Prasanth, Rohan Prem, Sony Cheruvathur and so on. 

Journey with Asha

“I have known Asha since 2004. We met at a camp for women cricketers in Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore Limited (FACT) in Kochi,” says Aaron, who prides himself in bringing young players to the Kerala women’s side. He adds that this camp in Kochi is where he met the players who dominated the state side for the next few years such as Asha Sobhana, AJ Aswathymol, P Rakhi, PS Ameena, T Shani and Jincy George.

In a YouTube video posted by the Royal Challengers Bengaluru during their 2024 season, Asha remembers, “My coach Aaron sir used to give me money for a week’s bus fare to focus only on cricket. He used to make sure that after every practice, he would take me out for orange juice.” When asked about this, Aaron says, “She would come to camp straight after school, and their family was also not in a condition to spend a lot. It’s not like I had much either, but I tried to do whatever I could.” 

Until the age of 18, Asha trained with Aaron. Then she received a call from the South Central Railway (SCR) and left for Hyderabad. She represented SCR for 10 years before joining the Puducherry team in 2022. In 2023, she was signed by the Royal Challengers Bengaluru for the inaugural edition of the Women’s Premier League at a price of ₹10 lakh. The team retained her for the 2024 edition, a decision proven right as she scalped 12 wickets in 10 matches at an economy rate of 7.11 runs. She was the second-highest wicket-taker of the tournament with her right-arm leg break. Her performance of 5-22 against UP Warriorz in the second game of the season also made her the first Indian women’s player to take a five-wicket haul in WPL.

“She was part of the National Cricket Academy and Zonal Cricket Academy coaching camps from a young age. She is fortunate that she got to work with a lot of good coaches,” says Aaron, adding “She would come to me to train when she was in the city.”

Fillip to women’s cricket

With two out of 15 people (Asha Sobhana, and Sajana Sajeevan) in the current World Cup squad emerging from Kerala, Aaron thinks that Kerala women’s cricket has gained good momentum in the country. He says, “Kerala has improved a lot. Back then, there wasn’t a lot of exposure for the women’s cricket team; they would play district games and then go directly to state matches. But this changed with the likes of the Kerala Cricket Association’s Pink tournament, the Comrade Kodiyeri Balakrishnan Women’s Cricket T20 Tournament in Kannur and other tournaments as well. There are also cricket academies specifically for women.” 

Aaron adds, “There are a lot of girls who are emerging as well. There’s Najila who plays for the Under-19 women’s team and Joshitha, who is part of the camps as well.” 

Aaron, a former Pathanamthitta player, is glad to see the spike in interest among the girls, currently training around 15 girls in his academy with a few who are five to six years old. “We have a few players from classes eight and 10 and some seniors who are around 23 years old,” he says. 

Having also coached Sanju Samson since he was 13 years old, coach Aaron considers the biggest highlight of his career to be Sanju’s recent T20 men’s World Cup victory. “It was a great thrill to see him hold the trophy in his hands,” Aaron says. The coach is also glad about how players like Sanju and Asha, who are from Thiruvananthapuram, give back to the local players by donating their kits to those who perform well. Considering the high price of quality cricket kits, Aaron feels fortunate that the players of today are investing in the players of the future. 

Aiming for glory: Muzumdar will be banking on Harmanpreet’s experience to come to the fore.
| Photo Credit: EMMANUAL YOGINI

She has been the torch-bearer of India’s transition onto the big stage – combining textbook batting with power-hitting – for a decade and a half.

Come next week, Harmanpreet Kaur will join a band of Super Six to have featured in each of the nine ICC Women’s T20 World Cup editions.

While Harmanpreet will be the only Indian to have achieved the feat, others in the club will include Suzie Bates (New Zealand), Sophie Devine (England), Marizanne Kapp (South Africa), Ellyse Perry (Australia) and Chamari Athapaththu (Sri Lanka).

More than being proud of being the only Indian woman – and second India cricketer – to have achieved the feat, Harmanpreet is focused on using all her experience to help fulfil her dream of lifting an elusive ICC trophy.

“I have played so many World Cups and that experience and atmosphere is totally different to any other tournament,” Harmanpreet, the India captain, said before the squad departed for the United Arab Emirates late on Tuesday.

“I am going with the same excitement as I had when I was just a 19-year-old. I just want to go there and enjoy myself. I know now I have so much experience with me.”

In fact, there is no dearth of experience in Harmanpreet’s team that has set out to attain glory. Only three cricketers from India’s 15-member squad are yet to feature in a T20 World Cup.

Harmanpreet’s form, though, has been wobbly of late. Perhaps it’s got to do with her decision to push herself slightly down the order in recent games. The captain has managed to notch up just two fifties since the last T20 World Cup. Her T20I numbers since then include 368 runs from 17 innings (22 matches) at a strike rate of 116.

But Harmanpreet is not at all concerned with her form. “I know what the pressure is like and how I am going to handle it. (It is about playing) with full freedom and just not thinking about the result.”

The only Indian man to have featured in every T20 World Cup so far – Rohit Sharma – did change a lot of things and lifted the trophy as captain in June. Will Harmanpreet repeat the feat next month?

File picture of India women’s cricket team captain Harmanpreet Kaur
| Photo Credit: PTI

The big-hitting Harmanpreet Kaur will lead a 15-member Indian squad unveiled on Tuesday for the Women’s T20 World Cup in the UAE from October 3.

Top-order batter Yastika Bhatia and spin all-rounder Shreyanka Patil were also included in the squad subject to fitness.

Star batter Smriti Mandhana has been named Harmanpreet’s deputy.

The ICC event was shifted to the UAE from Bangladesh following unrest in the South Asian nation owing to a students’ protest.

India, placed in Group A along with Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, will be aiming for their maiden T20 World Cup trophy.

India squad for Women’s T20 World Cup

Harmanpreet Kaur (captain), Smriti Mandhana (vice-captain), Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh (wk), Yastika Bhatia (wk)*, Pooja Vastrakar, Arundhati Reddy, Renuka Singh Thakur, Dayalan Hemalatha, Asha Sobhana, Radha Yadav, Shreyanka Patil*, Sajana Sajeevan.