All You Need to Know About Parshavi Chopra!

image-lfh3k684WPL 2023: Parshavi rose to the occasion vs Gujarat Giants (Twitter)

When the inaugural edition of the Women’s Premier League got the green light to take place from this year, it was a well known fact that it was going to bring a profound change in women’s cricket in the country.

Along with the monetary accolades it was going to bring to women's cricket, the number of opportunities for the Indian local players to perform and emerge between some of the biggest names in the sport was going to be immense.

Today is such a day for this new born franchise league in India, where they found one such player, a 16-year-old, having a massive head on her shoulder, assuring a great future for the Women in Blue in future.

UP Warriorz were up against Gujarat Giants, on Monday, at Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. A young leg-spinner, Parshavi Chopra, who was playing only her second game of the tournament, caught the eyes of millions when skipper Alyssa Healy handed the ball to her in the death overs and the youngster end up dismissing two set batters, Dayalan Hemalatha and Ashleigh Gardner, helping her side to restrict the Giants below 180.

Parshavi, from Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh, played a crucial role behind India Women U19 winning the inaugural U19 Women’s World Cup in South Africa earlier this year. She was the highest wicket taker for the Girls in Blue with 11 wickets at an economy rate of 3.66 and a tremendous strike rate of 11.4. 

Her best bowling performance of 4 for 5 came against Sri Lanka Women U19 in Potchefstroom. In addition, she was the player of the match in the Semi Final match against New Zealand Women U19 for her magnificent 3 for 20.

Parshavi had been brought up in a cricket-loving household where everyone, including her grandfather, father and uncles talked cricket all the time. But it was India’s 2017 World Cup Campaign which inspired a 9-year-old Parshavi to start playing the sport. She started her cricketing journey by joining the Yuvraj Singh Centre of Excellence in Noida with a dream of playing a World Cup for India.

Earlier, she started as a medium pacer but was soon advised to turn into a leg spinner by her coach. She went on to make a national record of bowling six maiden overs, including three wickets against Baroda in 2019 during an U19 camp and later was the second highest wicket taker in U19-Nationals back in 2019.

As a reward, Parshavi was amongst the 25 cricketers to be selected for a high performance camp in the National Cricket Academy in August 2022. Owing to her excellent performance in the camp and in all the domestic tournaments followed, Parshavi went on to play in the inaugural U19 Women’s World Cup and ended up being the second highest wicket-taker in the tournament.

Parshavi was later signed by her home state-based franchise UP Warriorz for INR 10 Lakhs ahead of the inaugural edition of the WPL. She made her debut against Mumbai Indians Women and made her presence felt against Gujarat Giants, helping her side to be the third team to qualify for the knockouts.