Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals have been 2 franchises who have exerted their dominance in the ongoing Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2023.
While the Harmanpreet Kaur led Mumbai side have been undefeated so far, the Meg Lanning led Delhi side has only lost to Mumbai. And one of the key players in Delhi Capitals has been Shikha Pandey.
In yesterday’s game between Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bangalore, Shikha Pandey bagged 3 wickets in her 4 overs and was oozing confidence and class.
She had a fantastic economy of 5.75 in the game and troubled the RCB batters a lot.
Shikha Pandey is presently sitting 2nd in the list of most wickets in WPL 2023. In 5 games, she has bagged 8 wickets and has announced through her cricketing prowess that she can bid for the Purple Cap (given for most wickets in WPL).
Shikha Pandey was born in Andhra Pradesh
The all-rounder was born in Ramagundam in Andhra Pradesh and is 33 years of age. She has been in the Indian cricketing circuit at the highest level for quite some time.
With truckloads of experience, she definitely has been a role model for a lot of upcoming and budding women cricketers. Notably, Ramagundam is situated in present-day Telangana.
Pandey is part of the Indian Air Force
Shikha Pandey joined the Indian Air Force in 2011 and was commissioned as an air traffic controller in 2012. Even though she kept playing cricket, her love for the Indian Air Force knew no bounds.
She had the rank of a Squadron Leader during the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020.
Academics has always been an integral part in the life of Shikha Pandey
The talented Indian all-rounder has a good background in education and academics. At the age of 15, she became the first CBSE student to represent India.
Pandey also has completed her engineering degree from the Goa College of Engineering in 2010.
Post her completion of the degree, she received offers from several multi-national companies but she took an oath to focus on cricket. And now she has become a prominent figure in women’s cricket.
Shikha Pandey has so far played 55 ODIs, 56 T20Is and 3 Tests. She has scored 512, 207 and 55 runs respectively in the 3 formats.
The all-rounder has also bagged 75, 40 and 4 wickets respectively in the ODI, T20I and Test format.
Also read: WPL 2023: 3 Players Who Could Win The Emerging Player Award
