Hyderabad’s senior women’s team vice-captain Pranavi over the moon

Hyderabad: Hyderabad senior women’s team vice-captain Pranavi Chandra, who has been named in the Deepthi Sharma-led Velocity team for the upcoming Women’s T20, is over the moon.

The 20-year-old bowling all-rounder is excited at the prospect of rubbing shoulders with her role models as well as international stars. “I am very excited as I get to play with my role models. It will be a great opportunity for me. I will try to keep a cool head and not try to think about anything else. I always believe in my strength,” she said.

The right-arm medium pacer impressed everyone with her economical bowling in last month’s Senior Women’s T20 Trophy that paved the way for her selection. Pranavi started playing cricket as a four-year-old youngster when she was introduced to the game during summer camp. She then went on to represent Hyderabad in the under-23 category in 2019. She was also named the captain of the Hyderabad under-19 side in the one-day tournament in 2020.

“I got a chance to play in the Falcon Sports Club Golden Jubilee inter-academy cricket tournament in Bengaluru where I played against Indian players for the first time. Bowling against them and picking up the wickets there boosted my confidence,” she said of the tournament where she also awarded the most promising cricketer trophy.

Pranavi, who admires MS Dhoni and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, also played in England representing Ealing Cricket Club in Middlesex league and has a best score of an unbeaten 75 and a four-wicket haul. “My dream is to play for the country. I want to make the best use of this opportunity to learn as a player,” said the youngster who trains at the Ramanaidu Cricket Academy in Madhapur.

Meanwhile, Hyderabad Cricket Association president Mohammed Azharuddin congratulated the all-rounder for her selection and said the youngsters need to strive to do well in domestic leagues to make it to the national side.