Twenty-nine-year-old Renuka Singh Thakur’s tyrst with cricket started when she was just 7. She would follow her brother, Vinod, to the Parsa village ground near the Kundi nullah around a km walk from their house in Rohru of Himachal Pradesh where he played ball with the neighbourhood boys till late evening.

Fast forward 22 years, Renuka was among the 15-member Indian Women cricket squad to have created history by lifting the World Cup trophy for the first time on Sunday.

“I lost my husband Kehar Singh Thakur when Renuka was just three. But even then, he knew that Renuka loved playing cricket. My husband was so fond of the game that he named our son Vinod, after former Indian cricketer Vinod Kambli. While growing up, Renuka would play village-level matches and place every trophy she won i

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