India debutant S Sajana joins elite list

The Indian cricket team handed a debut cap to uncapped Sajana Sajeevan who made headlines in the Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2024 edition. After her stunning show, she was picked in the squad for the first T20I against Bangladesh, as well.

Kerala batter, who did well in WPL 2024 with her hitting prowess, finished the tournament with the second-highest strike rate of 158, playing for the Mumbai Indians as well. However, not just her exploits for Kerala and Mumbai Indians, she has also performed on the big screen before playing for India as well.

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However, after receiving her India cap, Sajana Sajeevan joined the elite list of players to play a cricketer on the big screen first and then donned the blue. First, it was South African batter Dane Vilas who played former pacer Allan Donald in the 2008 film ‘Hansie’ before making his debut for the Proteas in 2012. West Indies’ Tagenarine Chanderpaul was also cast as Larry Gomes in the Indian film ’83’ before he made his Test debut in 2022 as well.

Now, Sajana Sajeevan has joined the list as she played herself as a cricketer in the 2018 Tamil film ‘Kanaa’ and six years later, she has made her debut. However, it wasn’t a great debut for the hard-hitter as she scored a run-a-ball 11 after India opted to bat first in Chattogram. Thanks to Shafali Verma, Yastika Bhatia, captain Harmanpreet Kaur and Richa Ghosh, Team India got to a score of 145. Rabeya Khan was the pick of the bowler for Bangladesh taking 3/23.

Later on, Indian bowlers did well with the ball and restricted the host brilliantly and won the match convincingly as well. Renuka Singh starred with the ball with 3 wickets.