The Indian cricket team handed a debut to one of the two uncapped Women's Premier League (WPL) stars of the 2024 edition picked in the squad in the first T20I against Bangladesh, Sajana Sajeevan. Kerala batter, who made her name in WPL 2024 with her hitting prowess, ended the tournament with the second highest strike rate of 158, playing for the Mumbai Indians. However, not just her exploits for Kerala and Mumbai Indians, Sajana has also performed on the big screen before playing for India.
After receiving her India cap, Sajana joined the elite list of players to play a cricketer on the big screen first and then make their international debut. First, it was South African batter Dane Vilas who played former pacer Allan Donald in the 2008 film 'Hansie' before making his debut for the Proteas in 2012. West Indies' Tagenarine Chanderpaul was cast as Larry Gomes in the Indian film '83' before he made his Test debut in 2022.
Now, Sajana has joined the list as she played herself as a cricketer in the 2018 Tamil film 'Kanaa' and six years later, she is finally an India player.
However, it wasn't a memorable debut for the hard-hitter as she scored a run-a-ball 11 after India opted to bat first on a slow pitch in Chattogram. Riding on contributions from Shafali Verma, Yastika Bhatia, captain Harmanpreet Kaur and Richa Ghosh, the Women in Blue got to a score of 145. However, the team would feel that they left a few runs out there, despite the grip and the turn on the surface. Rabeya Khan was the star with the ball for Bangladesh taking 3/23.
India's playing XI against Bangladesh Women: Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Yastika Bhatia(w), Deepti Sharma, Harmanpreet Kaur(c), S Sajana, Richa Ghosh, Pooja Vastrakar, Shreyanka Patil, Renuka Thakur Singh, Radha Yadav
