Meet the Kannadiga 'Hudugi' Who is Rewriting History Books in Germany


Posted August 20, 2020 by topcrickets

It has been a week since Anuradha Doddaballapura created history by becoming the first-ever bowler to take four wickets in four consecutive balls in women’s T20Is -- a world record in women's cricket.

 
Sitting in a train, letting that moment sink in, the 33 year old biomedical scientist describes that moment as 'surreal'. But as her train pulls over at Frankfurt, her focus is back on the 20 girls who have enrolled at her academy to learn cricket from this kannadiga 'hudagi'.

Skipper for the German national team since 2017, love for cricket runs in Anuradha's family. It is no surprise then that her proud parents livestream all of her games sitting back here in Bengaluru. Having represented Karnataka in various tournaments in India this full-time biologist knew no matter where her career takes her, her love for the pitch would always bring her back to the field. And so in 2008 when she moved to the United Kingdom to pursue her master she knew that what better place to play cricket than in the nation that gave us the sport.

Anuradha went on to play county cricket in England and further honed her skill which she had been training for since the age of 13. But when her PhD brought her to Frankfurt in 2011 She had no idea that a football loving country would give her the opportunity not only to captain a side but also put Germany on the table of cricketing countries.

What started as a weekend and after-work hobby has now made this scientist focus on giving her time to the national team as well as girls who look upto her as their coach. "If there is one similarity between cricket and my job it is that both need a lot of ones hard work and time invested and the results only come out after months or years together. But patience that I learnt on the field is what i can apply to my job and take whatever comes at me in my stride", she says.

And even though Anuradha has no plans on returning to India or playing for the Indian womens team as of now, she has a slice of India on the field back in Gernamy as she has found teammates in fellow kannadigas Kartika Vijayraghavan and Sharu Sadarangani. "Some bit of Kannada banter on the pitch never hurt nobody, we are kannadigas after all and a language can take you everywhere" she said.

With no major tournaments planned in the near future or until January next year due to the pandemic Anuradha has plenty of time to prep her team for the games in 2021. Her next target is the Euro Qualifiers for the T20 World Cup where Germany could face teams like Scotland, Netherlands and Ireland.

But for now basking in the glory of having a whitewash series against Austria, Anuradha hopes that the recognition her achievements has brought will help in promoting German cricket and also throw some light on women's cricket especially in a non cricketing country.

Read more :https://www.topcrickets.com/news/4971.htm
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Issued By topcrickets
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Categories Blogging , Hobbies , News
Tags cricket , germany , meet
Last Updated August 20, 2020