Wearing the Indian jersey is the ultimate feeling – Jhulan Goswami

Indian veteran bowler Jhulan Goswami had a glorious career as she ticked all the right boxes. She scalped 255 wickets in the 204 ODI matches she played at an average of 22.04 and 3.37. The right-arm pacer bowled almost 10,000 balls in ODI cricket and she was key in inspiring the young girls.

The 39-year-old played for almost two decades as she made her Test and ODI debut back in 2002. Goswami rose through the ranks and never looked back as she came up with consistent performances for India. She picked a total of 353 wickets in her illustrious career.

The experienced campaigner said that wearing the Indian jersey is the ultimate feeling.

“When I started, I never thought about playing for such a long time. It was a great experience that I’ve enjoyed and learnt from,” Jhulan said at the online press conference on Friday (September 23) ahead of the third ODI.

Reflecting back on the nascent stages of her career, Goswami shared what it was like during the training days and playing for the national team.

“Those days we used to represent the Women’s cricket association of India, and since 2006 we’ve been under the umbrella of the BCCI. It was a different feeling. I never thought about it… being from Chakdaha, coming back to train and every day I was going two and half hours on a one-way journey.

“Do training, come back, and then again the next morning I’d go. I think the best memories when I first represented India – getting my India cap from my captain was an amazing feeling and bowling that first over in my career – that was the most important moment in my life.”

Goswami revealed the World Cup final between Australia and New Zealand in India in 1997 planted a seed in her mind that she wanted to represent her country. Goswami took India cricket to new heights with Mithali Raj and both of them played a key role in India’s rise.

“The first time I saw the Women’s World Cup final was in Eden Gardens between Australia and New Zealand as a ball girl. And that day I dreamt that someday I might represent my country. That is how I started… put a lot of effort into my country and that’s the biggest moment in my life.

“From U19 days we’ve (Mithali) been playing together so we have a great relationship on and off the field. But it was just to bring the women’s Indian team to a different level – what it was before and what it is today is totally different. That’s the journey and we believed that we could change the face of women’s cricket, we believed that we could be a top 3-4 team in the world. It was not a one-day process,” Jhulan said about Mithali.