Dayalan Hemalatha

A traditional right-hand batter and a crafty right-arm offie, Dayalan Hemalatha is a professional cricketer for the Indian women's cricket team and is renowned for her exquisite cover-drive in the domestic circuit.

Not supported by anyone in the family, it was her passion that drove her towards cricket early in life. Hemalatha made her debut for Tamil Nadu long back in 2011 and after a string of impressive performances, she was picked up by the South Zone three years later.

For over three years, Hemalatha enjoyed domestic cricket before being called up to the India A side, and a year later, her dream of playing for the Women in Blue came true. The Chennai-born made her international debut against Sri Lanka on September 11th, 2018. When she walked out to bat India were strangling for 142 for 4, she settled down and unleashed a wide range of powerful strokes. Her 31-ball 35 suggested that she belonged at the international level.

On the back of an impressive debut year, she was named in India Women’s squad for the 2018 ICC T20 Women’s World Cup. In the first group game against New Zealand, she scalped 3 wickets for just 26 runs and made a name for herself as a handy all-rounder.

Falling to break in the T20 World Cup squad in 2020 due to her inconsistency, Hemalatha bounced back in the limited-overs series against South Africa in March 2021. The Tamil Nadu-cricketer was picked in the final match of the ODI series and but failed to impress the selectors yet again as she was dismissed for just 2 runs and picked one wicket in a horrifying loss against the Proteas.

Still being relatively young, Whether she is in the playing XI or running drinks, she will continue to learn. Harmanpreet and Co will be hoping that when she does get a chance, Hemalatha will be able to put those lessons to use.

(As of March 2021)