Odisha Ace Cricketer Madhuri Mehta Eyes Surprising Comeback In Indian Team

Bhubaneswar: First international women cricketer from Odisha, Madhuri Mehta is eyeing to make a astounding comeback to the national team. The 29-year-old ace batsman scored the highest runs in the Women’s Cricket League conducted by the Odisha Cricket Association (OCA) which concluded on Wednesday.

Madhuri played five matches notching 299 runs which included a ton and two half centuries. She was also leading the Odisha Red team which secured the league.

Madhuri was selected in India women team in 2012 and earned her debut against West Indies at Basseterre. However, she was later dropped from the team in 2014.

During an one-to-one conversation with OTV's Niranjan Reddy on the sidelines of the Women’s Cricket League, Mehta said that she is hoping to make a comeback with the blue jersey.

Expressing her resurgent performance, Mehta said, "I am glad that my hard work paid off and I could score the highest runs in the league. The initiative of OCA will give the budding talents, particularly women, a platform to show their skills. These league matches will also help the players identify and shape their lacunas and boost their confidence."

"Odisha has a huge potential to produce international level players and league matches of this kind will help in identifying young talents. I also hope that the matches will help me reclaiming a berth in Indian team," she added.

On winning the league captaining the Team Red, Mehta said, "Cooperating with a junior team as a captain, being a senior player was challenging task but my team was a balanced one and I enjoyed guiding them."

"OCA will hold T20 matches also and that too with floodlights. This will provide ample opportunity for us to groom ourselves for international matches," added the cricketer.

"I had recently played the Challengers Trophy in Cuttack where my performance was really good. I was selected in India-A team and I am working hard and playing matches, whenever possible. I hope this will help me returning back to the Indian team," stated Mehta.

(Edited By Suryakant Jena)