CUTTACK 14-Jan-2012 234
Women`s cricket in Odisha received a major boost with the National Selection Committee picking Madhuri Meheta from the state among 20 probables for India`s tour of the West Indies, in February-March 2012. A right-hand opening bat and a right-arm medium pace bowler, Madhuri will be Odisha`s first international woman cricketer if she finds place in the final squad.
Hailing from Bolangir district, 21-year-old Madhuri caught the selectors` attention by virtue of her impressive performance in the Inter-State Women`s T-20 Tournament at Cuttack earlier this month. Her knocks of 34 not out and 40 helped Odisha post wins over Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka respectively.
Earlier in the East Zone League, she accumulated around 100 runs in four innings, including a half-century against Jharkhand.
Overall, Madhuri has scored 465 runs, including 72 not out as her highest in 29 one-day matches she has played so far Odisha, East Zone and India Red. In the T-20 version, she has aggregated 265 runs in 16 matches. Madhuri, a Plus-Two second year arts student of Pataneswari Women`s College (Patnagarh), took to cricket in the year 2007, under the guidance of her father Pradeep Meheta and elder brother Bharat Meheta.
``My father himself was a good cricketer, who represented our district in the inter-district tournament for several years. When he taught my brother about the game, I acted as a ball-picker for them. That way I got associated with cricket and loved it from the word go,`` recalled Madhuri.
Later on she sharpened her skills under the tutelage of home-town coach coach Arun Naik at Gandhi Mini Stadium. ``Madhuri is a hard-working and dedicated cricketer. She is also an extra-ordinary fielder at the gully and point region. I am confident that she would make her mark at the international level in the future,`` said Naik.
The guidance of present state coach Rituparna Roy transformed Madhuri into an accomplished batswoman. ``I am grateful to my parents, coaches and OCA secretary Asirbad Behera for helping me come thus far. Finding a place among National probables has done a world of good to my confidence. I will continued to work hard to ensure my place in the final team for the West Indies tour,`` said Madhuri.
