Thiruvananthapuram, Dec. 26—India’s leading women’s fast‑bats and pacer, Renuka Singh Thakur, celebrated a four‑wicket performance in the third T20I of the series against Sri Lanka, which India won by eight wickets. The match was also the first international women’s game ever played at the Greenfield International Stadium.
Renuka returned to the T20I side and finished with figures of 4‑21, helping to bowl Sri Lanka out for 112‑7. “Very happy. I never get five wickets; it’s always four. Maybe I’ll have to work harder to get a five‑for as they’re rare for me. I go to the NCA (CoE) to prepare for any tournament because it works for me. I can do some extra work on my bowling and fitness, and that helps me execute better,” she said at the post‑match presentation.
With this haul, Renuka now holds the record for the most four‑wicket achievements by an Indian women’s T20I bowler, surpassing leg‑spinner Poonam Yadav’s three. Her 4‑21 ranks as the second‑best figures by an Indian woman in the format, only behind Daina David’s record 4‑12 from the 2010 T20 World Cup in Basseterre.
Adding to the bragging rights, Renuka noted that teammate Harmanpreet “was fully motivating me to get 5, as she also knows that I get only four wickets every time. I remember Jhulan (Goswami)’s words when she said to take five wickets, you need to work harder. So that’s what I was thinking—work harder to get the five wickets.”
Her overall performance against Sri Lanka in T20Is is impressive: across eight matches, she has taken 11 wickets at an average of 14.81, with a strike rate of 15.2 and an economy of 5.82. Renuka said she’s using the still‑ongoing series to fine‑tune her game for next year’s T20 World Cup in England. “I wanted to get confident in this series so that when I play in the future against Australia or the World Cup, there shouldn’t be any doubt about my slower ball or anything else,” she added. “If my first over doesn’t go well, I think about what I need to do and what to bowl on this wicket when the captain throws the ball next.”
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