Yastika Bhatia, the wicket-keeper batter hailing from Baroda, was one of the top performers for India in the 2022 Women’s CWC in New Zealand. She was named player of the match against Bangladesh for her courageous 50 that took India to a respectable total. She showed incredible grit and determination when, unfortunately, other established batters faltered against Bangladesh. Her half-century announced to the world that she is a talent whose name’s echoes will be heard in the cricketing world for many years to come.
Initial Steps:
Yastika Bhatia says that she was a sports fanatic and kept herself busy playing popular sports in her childhood. Her father was the one to recognize her zeal and talent to get her enrolled at a cricket academy when she was only 8 years old. She used to play alongside boys in that academy, and Baroda selectors noticed her to ultimately provided her with an opportunity to represent Baroda’s team at the state level in Women’s Cricket. She also represented the Senior State team at the young age of 11.
Pillar of Strength:
Yastika Bhatia credits her father as her biggest support system and her catalyst for taking up cricket as her career. Her father always wanted his kids to play at least one sport. He was particularly inclined towards cricket, and Yastika responded to him and took up cricket as her career path. She is also a black belt in Karate and used to enjoy swimming and badminton.
Yastika recalls that her father also supported her when she was in her 12th grade. She took up science as her stream, and it was extremely hard to manage both cricket and studies at the same time. However, her father’s guidance and help made her overcome the situation successfully in the end. She excelled in both studies and cricket, owing to her family’s support.
Maiden Call-up:
Yastika’s consistent performance for Baroda earned her the maiden call-up for India Women’s team in the limited-overs format in February 2021 for the series against South Africa. However, she could not make her debut in that series and had to wait for a few more months to display her batting excellence on the international level. She had played for India Women’s A team in 2019 against Australia before her imminent maiden call-up to the national women’s side.
Debut and the Road to World Cup:
Indian women selectors again called up Yastika in the tour to Australia. She finally got the opportunity to make her ODI debut on 21 September 2021 and further debuted for India in Women’s Test cricket on 30 September 2022 in a one-off Test. She also made her T20i debut on tour to Australia. Her impressive run in the tour and consistent performance for Baroda at the domestic level earned her the honour of being included in the squad for the Women’s World Cup 2022.
Inspiration and Future Goals:
Yastika claimed to be inspired by Adam Gilchrist in her childhood and wanted to emulate his success as the left-handed wicket-keeper batter. In 2014-15 she found motivation from Smriti Mandhana to do what Mandhana was doing for her country. Virat Kohli from the Indian men’s team is her favorite cricketer. She wants to become a match-winner for India Women’s team and ultimately help her side to bring the first-ever Women’s World Cup trophy to India.
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