Shyam Sundar Sharma still remembers the time when his daughter, Nandni Sharma, constantly urged him to enrol her at a cricket academy. The year was 2011, and Nandni was in fourth standard.
It wasn’t the first time she’d made this request – she would plead nearly every evening when Sharma returned from his spare parts shop in the Industrial Area of Chandigarh. On Monday, Sharma had just returned home from his workplace when Nandni greeted him and broke the news: the 24-year-old pacer was named in the 15-member India squad for the Women’s T20 World Cup.
“When Nandni was very young, her only demand from me was to get her enrolled in a cricket academy. She had made up her mind to play cricket. Like any parent, we wanted her to do whatever she wanted and did not even think for a moment to not enrol her,” Sharma told The Indian Express. “I used to play cricket in my younger days, but to see her play always made me emotional. Now to see her being selected for India for the T20 World Cup is one of the biggest rewards for us and for Nandni’s hard work and passion for cricket.”
Nandni, too, reminisced about the time she dreamt of playing in a World Cup for India. “I am still nervous as well as excited. It has not sunk in yet. I got injured after the India A-UAE A match in the Rising Stars Tournament in Thailand. But the last few months have seen me working on my bowling with my brothers, Akash Vats and Shubham Vats, who have played for Punjab. They helped me regain my rhythm. Bowling in England will be a challenge, but I am ready for it,” Nandni told this paper.
While the youngster trained at her school, followed by a stint at the LIC Cricket Academy in Chandigarh’s Sector 26 – the brainchild of present PCA curator Deepinder Singh – she would soon make her way into the Punjab junior teams.
Nandni attended the U-19 NCA camp and played for the Punjab U16 and U19 teams before she played for Chandigarh. She initially trained under coaches Jatin, Rajesh Patha and Deepak before training under Sukhwinder Bawa, the former coach of Yuvraj Singh and father of U-19 World Cup winner Raj Angad Bawa.
Singh remembers a young Nandni impressing the coaches at his academy with her pace. “Nandni was about ten years old when she joined our academy. I remember she used to bowl at a good pace, even at that age, with other girls and boys watching with surprise. Later, as she grew, she worked on her yorkers. She always wanted to bowl on proper pitches, and we also hope that someday she will play in Indian colours at Mullanpur Stadium,” shares Singh.
Last year, Nandni was picked up by the Delhi Capitals for Rs 20 lakh for the 2026 WPL. Before that, Nandni had served as a net bowler for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the third edition of the WPL. Sharma got her chance in the Delhi Capitals XI after Australian Annabel Sutherland withdrew from the tournament. Over the WPL, Sharma picked up 17 wickets, a feat only matched by Gujarat Giants’ Sophie Devine. Sharma also became only the second Indian to take a WPL hat-trick and the first uncapped player to take a five-for, with her five-wicket spell against Gujarat Giants. “When she came to train under me, we worked on slow bouncers as well as variations, and she was also good with the bat. I was hoping to see her getting a chance to bat too in the WPL. The way she bowled in the WPL was something that gave her a lot of confidence,” said Bawa.
Nandni, too, recalls the WPL experience as well as the learnings. “The WPL taught me to perform under pressure, as well as bowl against some of the most experienced players. Our captain, Jemmiah Rodrigues, backed me a lot, and I would also discuss bowling with Shafali Verma as well as Marizanne Kapp. I have been a fan of the way Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowls, and hopefully I can bowl like him in England,” said Nandni.
