Tribal family to World Cup glory: Kranti Goud’s journey from a backup player in boys’ team to India pacer

In the small rural town of Ghuwara in Madhya Pradesh’s Chhatarpur district, a 12-year-old would sit near a ground in front of her house and watch boys play cricket for hours. Now a decade later, the 22-year-old right-arm medium pacer lifted the ICC Women’s ODI World Cup trophy in Navi Mumbai as India beat South Africa to win the title for the first time.

Like many of her peers in India’s World Cup-winning team, Kranti’s story too began in a small town as she navigated through resistance, challenges, lack of resources and financial hardships to the historic moment at the DY Patil Stadium on the night of November 2. In India’s second match in the World Cup against Pakistan, Kranti got three crucial wickets, conceding just 20 runs in 10 overs, to help opposition bundle out for 159 and won Player of the Match award.

Her elder sister Roshni Goud recalls that Kranti, who quit her studies after class 8, barely played with the girls in the neighbourhood and was fascinated by cricket since childhood.

“When us girls would play outside, she would just sit and watch the boys play cricket in the ground. Since our brothers also played, she used to play with them sometimes,” says Roshni, as she recalls Kranti’s “first break” when a local boys team was a player short.

“When she got a chance to play, she scored 25 runs and took two wickets and became Player of the Match in her very first game,” Roshni adds. Until 2017, Kranti played local tournaments in boys’ teams with rubber or tennis balls.

‘Sacrifices have paid off’

Youngest among Munna Singh Goud and Neelam Goud’s six children, Kranti, fondly called Rohini at home, hails from a tribal family in Madhya Pradesh’s poverty-ridden Bundelkhand region. In 2012, Munna Singh who worked as a police constable was dismissed from service, forcing Kranti’s eldest brother to give up studies and take up a job to support the family.

But despite the setback, the family didn’t let her interest in the sport to deter. And as her talent continued to blossom, Munna took her to neighbouring district Tikamgarh in 2017 to meet Rajeev Bilthare, who had brought a girls’ team from his sports academy in Chhatarpur city.

“Since a match was going on at the time, I could not talk to them properly and had asked them to come to Chhatarpur the next day,” Bilthare recalls. The next day, the father-daughter duo arrived at his Sai Sports Academy.

“Her father told me about having lost his job and about their financial restraints. But since the girl showed promise, I enrolled her at the academy without any fees. She also stayed at my house for a week in the beginning,” he says, adding that the city is 85 kilometres from her hometown making commute a problem.

“She did not have cricketing shoes or other gear so I got her a pair of shoes. Even now, I keep gifting her kit equipment at her achievements,” he says.

For the next three years, Bilthare recalls, Kranti juggled between Ghuwara, Chhatarpur and a nearby village where she stayed at the house of another girl at the academy, as she went on to play Under-15 and U-19 levels for Madhya Pradesh.

Kranti’s father says, “Since I couldn’t find another job and my sons had started working, I used to travel with her to Chhatarpur. Her coach would take all the girls together for any tournaments but still we used to be nervous and scared whenever she travelled far.”

“Roshni and I used to travel separately to watch her play. It’s only the start of her career but we feel all our sacrifices have paid off,” Munna says, adding that the same people who earlier used to taunt him and his family are now coming with sweets and congratulations.

Breaking into the Indian set-up

Until 2020, Bilthare recalls, Kranti was more inclined towards batting and had even scored big at divisional level.

“But seeing her fitness and pace, we started focusing her on her bowling and swing. The next two-three years were full of struggle for her but she remained consistent. I also started telling her that she will play for India one day and that should be her aim,” he says.

Kranti first caught the selector’s eye when she bagged four wickets at an economy of 2.77 and won Player of the Match in the final of Women’s Senior One Day Trophy 2024 against Bengal. Soon after, she was picked by UP Warriorz for the Women’s Premier League (WPL). In the 2025 edition of the franchise-based tournament, the pacer took six wickets in eight matches.

Kranti’s India debut soon followed. It came on May 11 in the final of a Tri-Series against Sri Lanka in Colombo. Two months later on her first England tour, the pacer grabbed headlines after rattling the English team with her figures of 6/52 — making her the youngest to claim a six-wicket haul in WODIs. With the performance, she sealed her berth for the World Cup, where she went on to bag nine wickets in eight outings and showing promise for future.

Back at home, her family and the town is busy celebrating her triumph with dhols and firecrackers. Relatives and neighbours are coming to congratulate while Chief Minister Mohan Yadav announced a reward of Rs. 1 crore for her.

At the academy, Bilthare hopes that Kranti’s achievement will encourage more young girls from the region to take up sports. He currently has about 40 girls training at his academy that he started in 2013.

“I started a girls’ team in 2016 with five players from a government college. In the next one year, I visited many schools and colleges to search for talented girls. I spoke to their families too to allow them to take cricket as a career. I have been training girls and boys at a rented ground,” says Bilthare, who is also a government sports officer in Chhatarpur, as he hopes for better facilities and resources from the authorities.

Kranti’s father says, “The first step has to be from the families who need to encourage girls and boys alike, especially at small places like ours. If the family stands by them, the young players can manage any other obstacles.”

Published on Nov 03, 2025