The Railways left-arm spinner survived the inaugural WPL season, came back improved and knocked over some of the biggest international names in this year’s tournament
Vishal Dikshit22-Apr-2024Tanuja Kanwar was alone at home in Himachal Pradesh one afternoon in February 2023, at the time of the inaugural WPL auction. As soon as she flipped her phone on to watch it live, Kanwar was flooded with calls from well-wishers.”I couldn’t watch my own bidding,” Kanwar says with a laugh. “I kept cutting those calls, but people kept calling me back and I couldn’t watch the auction properly. I thought call . [Let me answer one of these calls because these people are not going to let me watch it otherwise].” I came to know I had been bought by Gujarat Giants. I asked how much for, and I was told Rs 50 lakh [US$ 60,500 approximately].”To put it in perspective, that figure was a lot more than what international stars like Heather Knight, Hayley Matthews and Dane van Niekerk fetched, and it matched the sum Jess Jonassen went for.The WPL deal was the latest in Kanwar’s surge in Indian cricket, which has coincided with her move from her home team Himachal Pradesh to Railways in 2020. Railways are a powerhouse in women’s cricket in India – they have produced players like Mithali Raj, Neetu David, Nooshin Al Khadeer, who have won them the Senior Women’s One Day Trophy 15 times in 17 editions, and the Senior Women’s T20 trophy several times too, last in 2022-23.Kanwar’s reward at the auction was an endorsement of her consistent domestic performances. Barely a week before the 2023 auction she had starred with 3 for 26 for Railways in the One Day Trophy final to finish the tournament with 18 wickets while averaging 11.16 and conceding just 2.43 runs an over. Earlier in the season she had taken 3 for 18 in the domestic T20 final in November 2022.”It’s a very big thing to play for Railways because most of the players there have played for India,” Kanwar says. “Playing and competing with them teaches you a lot, like how to handle pressure situations and how to play at the highest level. I’ve learnt a lot in these three years there.”What might have also worked in Kanwar’s favour was that the Railways coach, Al Khadeer, who was brought on board by Gujarat Giants as their bowling coach, sat at the auction table along with Raj. A former offspinner, Al Khadeer had coached Kanwar at Railways and would play a pivotal role for the left-arm spinner at Giants as well.”Whenever I feel I need some advice for my bowling, I consult her,” Kanwar says of Al Khadeer. “Or if it’s about how to bowl to which batter, she’s the one I go to.”Having played with Kanwar for Railways, stand-in Gujarat Giants captain Sneh Rana (left) knew how best to use the spinner in her inaugural WPL season•BCCIBeing the main left-arm spinner in the Giants squad, Kanwar featured in all eight of their games in 2023, and she was often given the ball by then captain Sneh Rana – also a senior team-mate at Railways – whenever there were two right-hand batters at the crease, including in the powerplay.Kanwar picked up five wickets in all, but what stood out was her temperament on the big stage and her economy rate of 8.85, the third best in a team that had leaked plenty of runs.Kanwar idolised Yuvraj Singh in her childhood, and her dream is to eventually play for India, but coming home from the WPL she realised her limited skills were not enough to get her closer to that dream.”Last year in the WPL I used to panic a little bit if I would leak runs, but since then I have learnt that even if I go for runs, I have to make a comeback in the next over – if I get it – and try to get that player out,” she says. “I try to boost myself and prepare myself mentally that I must do better in the next over.”Last year I learnt a lot at the WPL about varying your pace, what to bowl in what kind of situation. When I went back home, I worked a lot on myself on these things.”A variation she came up with to fox batters was to bowl a lot slower and from well behind the crease. That meant the trajectory would not be all that different but it would give the batters the impression that it was going to land in their arc.”Nooshin was someone who told me that I needed to work on my slower variation,” Kanwar says. “Earlier I used to bowl a normal slower delivery but that used to come nicely onto the bat. But when I bowl it from behind the crease, it lands before the good-length area. The batter doesn’t get the ball in the slot because the length is pulled back. I worked on this a lot in the last year, which is why I was able to execute it nicely this [WPL] and pick wickets with it.”This variation landed her some big fish in 2024, including Sophie Devine, Matthews, Shafali Verma and Annabel Sutherland.Devine was someone Kanwar was particularly targeting this season because the hard-hitting batter had whacked her for a 25-run over last season. Kanwar was ready with her riposte a year later. Devine was on the charge when Royal Challengers Bangalore were chasing 200 and at one point when she stepped out for a big swing, Kanwar bowled a slower one at 68.9kph from well behind the crease. Devine was deceived by the length, missed her heave and lost her off stump.”Last year she had really smashed me,” Kanwar says with a laugh. “So when we returned for this WPL, I was talking to [Lea] Tahuhu, her friend and New Zealand team-mate [who played for Giants in 2024]. I was telling her how Devine had whacked me last time and she said, ‘Yeah, I know!’ I told Tahuhu that this time I’m going to get her [Devine]. And then I actually dismissed her and I was really happy because of what had happened last year.”
Dangerous Devine departs
Tanuja Kanwer with the timber strike
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