An Exclusive Interview with USA captain Sindhu Sriharsha: Cricketing idol, Vision for USA team and Message for aspiring cricketers

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Here are some highlights from the interview

In an exclusive conversation with USA Women’s cricket captain Sindhu Sriharsha, we dive deep into her remarkable journey, from her early days in Bengaluru to leading the USA national team. Sindhu talks about how cricket has always been a part of her identity, even after moving to a new country. Initially, she picked up the bat just for fun, but soon found herself rekindling her passion for the game.

Sindhu also shares her admiration for her cricketing idol, whose discipline and work ethic left a lasting impact on her. Growing up watching him at Chinnaswamy Stadium, she aspired to bat like him, with a defense that mirrored his resilience.

As the captain of the USA women’s team, Sindhu has been at the forefront of its growth, highlighting the establishment of a strong domestic pathway and nurturing young talent, with some players already becoming senior members of the squad at just 18. Her vision for the team is clear – to make a mark on the global stage, competing in the semi-finals and finals, and earning the respect of teams around the world.

Here are some highlights from the interview:

Q: Can you walk us through your cricketing journey?

Sriharsha: I think you know once you pick up the bat as a kid and it’s been part of you as a growing up and that’s been your identity it’s never out of your system so I think once I moved to a new country um moved in as an immigrant and the easiest way for me to find a community kind of a family was always going back to my roots um and then knowing that I had the talent and the skills in a sport and I could easily form some relationships and find some friends and basically a community as well so I kind of like wanted to create my own uh life here in the new country and so kind of picked up the bat just for the fun of it, not wanting to be a professional athlete again or a professional cricketer just wanting to go recreate that fun part of the sport itself that was missing towards the later part of my career in India so kind of you know wanting to re discover that so I just kind of picked up the bat for that.

Q: Who did you look up to as your cricketing idol while growing up?

Sriharsha: I’m a Bengaluru girl and I definitely looked up to Rahul Dravid a lot. I saw him very closely in the Chinnawami stadium when it comes to his work ethics and how he prepared himself. I knew from the beginning that what he was putting up as performances on TV basically was based on all of the work that he was putting outside of those field that he was in so I knew what it meant to kind of prepare and I knew what it was to be that disciplined an athlete I learned from the best I guess so I looked at him very closely definitely followed his career a lot um kind of wanted to be like him to an extent I think when I picked up the bat I wanted to bat like him I felt like my defense was like him so kind of definitely looked up to him in my early days of cricket.

Q: How do you assess the progress of USA’s domestic cricket?

Sriharsha: First of all I want to say that when USA C was established kind of constituted in 2018 or 2019 um was when a board was put in place by CC Americas from then on we’ve only gone upwards from there um we have had a board consistent especially a female director Nadia Gruni has been sitting as players representative on the board for the past um 6 years since it has been coming to Constitution and uh definitely a lot of positives since then. Domestic pathway was established somewhere in 2021 and since then we’ve only seen the number of cricketers or the age group levels that have grown definitely one of the biggest milestones or I must say a an era that changed a lot for us was also having Julia price as our coach from 2019 to 2021 or starting 2021 2022 towards the end of it those two years made a lot of difference to us as cricketers and I think she was instrumental along with the board then to put in the domestic pathway in place and since then definitely we’ve grown a lot like I said and this year particularly I want to definitely call out the under 15 Nationals for the first time ever we had an under 15 Nationals. We had two teams east and west compete against each other for a um very well contested and competed tournament so the number of girls in the age group level of 13 to 15 have picked up we’ve had the entry to under 19 World Cup as well. We have the entry to go into under 19 World Cup this year as well so we’ve definitely grown this number over the period of years today and our national senior national team the team that actually traveled to the UAE this year in May the average age was 18 years old and I probably brought that number up but what I want to focus on is kind of that USA Cricket as a community we’ve invested in trying to build the age group level giving exposure to these youngsters at the right time keeping them and exposing them to the right opportunities right now and eventually few years down the lane they will be able to bring in the result that we need and they will still be in their early 20s and 25s where you know that they can still give 10 more years of cricket in them left.

So I think that was a very um intentional kind of way of us strategically tactically trying to move away and you know exposing the younger generation they might have not been ready two years back when we exposed them but today they are the seniors some of them we call as seniors are only 18 years old they have played Cricket for only for the past you know say four or five years but because of the exposures that we’ve given them number of international games and the exposures they’ve had they are today prepared to take a lot more challenges and they’re a lot more matured as a cricketer to in to go out there and at least compete with the higher rank teams. Results are never guaranteed and that’s what I keep telling my team as well so just because you’ve put in the word work doesn’t mean that you’ll go out there and get the results but I think the process is the way that we’re looking forward I think it’s been the right process and the right opportunities at the right time I think that’s gone on really well for the past few years.

Also READ: An Exclusive Interview with Netherlands captain Babette de Leede: Leadership, Legacy, T20 World Cup predictions and future of Women’s cricket

Q: Who’s the most mischievous in the USA Women’s team?

Sriharsha: I’ll be honest but because I don’t think anybody is a prankster because I think we have seen these youngsters from the age of 15 16 and they have grown as people today but I want to say that it’s a very lively bunch very noisy in the in the Dugout. There are times when I have to walk out and stand by myself in outdoors because I cannot take the music anymore because those I cannot relate to the music anymore because they’re playing some rap which I cannot understand and it’s definitely very noisy I feel like everybody before the game after the game whatever the results can be they take it in the right spirit and everybody is always in the right in the right spirits to try and pick each other up and that’s in the culture and I think everybody supports each other. If I really have to pick one, I think somebody who keeps the mood of the team up at all times is Geetika Kodali. I think she’s been with us in the team since she was 15 years old. She’s 20 now has been with the team for five years has been my Vice Captain for a few years with Anika colon with under 19 now coming up uh she’s being prepped for that but Geetika is somebody we look up to as one of the leader in the in the team she’s part of the leadership team as well so I think she try and keeps that the fun part of it alive uh on within the team so if I really have to pick it will be Geetika.

Q: As a captain, what’s your vision for the USA cricket team?

Sriharsha: I will go back to what I’ve been saying. I think at an America’s level we have been dominating for the past three terms almost like since 2019 that we took over and we’ve been competing in Americas we’ve definitely dominated that space and I think we’ve created the gap we’ve shown America’s region at least who we are and what kind of talent we have so having set that standards in Americas I think we want to be able to go out there in the globals as well and make a name for ourselves. if anything, a vision for me would be when we go over to the globals next time which is in a couple of years the teams are definitely fearing facing Cricket where they know that we on a given day will be able to beat any team that comes our way and definitely going out there and making semis and the finals that’s kind of the vision first thing first making that semi-finals would be my biggest Vision in the next globals.

Q: A tip for the ICC to grow cricket in associate nations?

Sriharsha: Bring in the World Cup League just like for the men for associate level women as well where we have League two and League one competing against each other and confirm schedules like just how league two have for men.

Q: A cheat meal you crave?

Sriharsha: Biryani, Chicken Biryani any day.

Q: Favourite Bollywood movie?

Sriharsha: I have too many but If I do have to pick one, it will be Dil to Pagal Hai. I could have probably watched that thousand times maybe.It’s something that I grew up watching with my mom and I still make it a point that we watch it together once every year together