Shaun
Cricketers Kashvee Gautam and Amanjot Kaur have been friends since long and had been taking cricket lessons together from the same coach Nagesh Gupta in Chandigarh. Both all-rounders grew up together and harboured a dream to play for India one day. Their coach had worked hard on the duo and he also had a dream which was to see them both play for India at the same time.
As luck would have it, Kashvee has bagged a maiden call-up from the Indian women’s cricket team for the upcoming tri-series involving Sri Lanka, India and South Africa and will be played in Sri Lanka from April 27. Incidentally, all-rounder Amanjot is making a comeback in the Indian team for the tri-series after a gap after recovering from wrist injury.
Eventhough, Punjab’s Amanjot missed the domestic season, she recovered well in time for the Women’s Premier League (WPL) 3 and gave a stellar performance for her franchise Mumbai Indians (MI) who were eventual champions to earn the comeback. Meanwhile, Kashvee, who has impressed consistently playing for Chandigarh in various age-groups and also India U-23 teams also hogged limelight in the WPL playing for Gujarat Giants (GG). She played nine matches for GG in the 2025 season and picked up 11 wickets and emerged as the highest Indian wicket-taker in the tournament this season to get praise from all corners.
It was not only 21-year-old’s bowling performances, power-hitting abilities but also electric and sharp fielding which set her apart from other youngsters in the league. And with regular medium-pacers, Titas Sadhu and Renuka Thakur out of favour due to respective injuries, Kashvee and Amanjot (both medium-pacers and also batters) both fit into the Indian team set up well. Knowing that the upcoming ICC women’s ODI World Cup will be played in India in October-November, the national selectors seem to have aimed to give the in-form cricketers a go to test their skills and also provide them with international exposure.
BCCI level II coach Khyati Gulani who has coached UT Cricket Association (UTCA) senior women’s team and also the Punjab senior women’s team has seen both players blossom at the same time. Heaping praise on Amanjot, she said, “Amanjot is a compact player who has this fearless attitude which makes her very competitive. Due to wrist injury she had to miss last domestic season but after her recovery she made an impact playing for MI in the WPL. An all-rounder like her is an asset for the Indian team. Her comeback is good news for the Indian team.”
While Amanjot, who was former Chandigarh senior team’s captain and then shifted to Punjab Cricket Association (PCA), made her international debut for India in 2023, Kashvee will be making her first appearance for India in the upcoming tri-series.
“Kashvee is a tremendous talent and even though she also suffered a toe injury which kept her out of WPL 2, what a comeback she made playing for GG in the WPL 3. Her ability to swing the ball will always give her an edge over others. In India one won’t find many medium-pacers who get swing,” added Khyati. Kashvee had first time hit the headlines when she, at 16, with her inswinging deliveries had taken a perfect 10-wicket haul against Arunachal Pradesh in an U-19 Plate Group game at Kadapa to become first woman cricketer to do so. She is UTCA’s first cricketer to have made it to the Indian senior team. She became the most expensive uncapped player in the WPL auction after being sold to Gujrat Giants for ₹2 crore from a base price of ₹10 lakh ahead of WPL 2 but ended up missing the season due to toe injury.
Amanjot last played for India in a T20I game against Australia in January 2024. Both Amanjot, who has played 12T20Is and six ODIs for India, and Kashvee train at the Cricket With Nagesh Academy in Zirakpur.
