Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s World Cup-winning six lingers in India’s collective memory. It was a shot that impacted several lives, including that of little-known Solapur athlete Kiran Navgire.
And thus, athletics’ loss became cricket’s gain as the former Maharashtra state level athlete concluded that there is no fun if she can’t tonk the ball like her “hero”.
Eleven years later, at 28, Navgire, who plays domestic cricket for Nagaland, has achieved immediate celebrity with some of the most devastating strikes that one has ever seen from an Indian batter.
In her very second major stage game in the Women’s T20 Challenge, the right-handed Navgire smashed the quickest fifty for her side Velocity and her 34-ball-69 will likely be remembered for a long time, particularly the five sixes.
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“I truly feel terrific when I knock sixes and whenever I practise in the nets. I practice hitting sixes, I follow Dhoni sir, and I enjoy finishing like him, smashing huge sixes,” Navgire told her partner Yastika Bhatia during an encounter on bcci.tv.
For her, Dhoni’s unbroken 91 against Sri Lanka helped her set new objectives as she focused more on athletics, kho-kho, and kabaddi throughout her formative years while helping out her father at the family farm in Solapur district’s Mire village.
“I watched the 2011 World Cup final, and Dhoni sir’s winning sixer is something that amazed me and remains ingrained in my memory. That six motivated me, and I always felt that I could smash a six in every match like that,’ said the stockily built Navgire, a state-level shot-putter.
On Thursday, Velocity captain Deepti Sharma put her up the order at No. 3, and Navgire didn’t disappoint anybody, taking foreign bowlers like Poonam Yadav, Salma Khatun and Rajeshwari Gayakwad to the cleaners.
“I don’t enjoy playing dot balls and want to score something off every ball, so I achieved a nice score,” her responses were as essential as her lofted shots.
“In domestic cricket, I hadn’t batted up the order, but I had a nice season there and got some excellent runs. My game relies on my power-hitting abilities, and if it’s in my arc, I send it out of the park, and if there are excellent balls, I like to alternate strikes playing singles and doubles,” Navgire added.
She said that she was a little scared initially, but coach Devika Palshikar’s excellent guidance did assist a lot.
“Initially, I was a little anxious, but then things calmed down. The captain (Deepti) and my teammates gave me confidence. Coach Devika ma’am said, ‘you don’t need to look at the bowler but the ball, and I did exactly that,” she said.
