Shikha Pandey

Few cricketers carry two careers as comfortably as Shikha Pandey. In one, she is an Indian Air Force officer, trained as an air traffic controller. In the othe,r she is a swing bowler who spent years taking the new ball for India. Her teammates nicknamed her "Shikhipedia" for her appetite for cricketing detail, and she brought the same attention to the field. Her path to the national side was never a straight line, and that is what makes it worth telling.

Born in Ramagundam, then part of Andhra Pradesh, Pandey found her cricketing home in Goa. She was picked for the state side at 15, but she held back from a full domestic debut for a couple of seasons so she could concentrate on her studies. She completed her degree in electronics and electrical engineering in 2010 and joined the Indian Air Force a year later, eventually reaching the rank of Squadron Leader. Through all of it she kept training, and the Board allowed her to balance her duties with the game.

Steady domestic performances earned her a call-up to the India side in 2014. She made her T20I debut against Bangladesh in March, then made her Test and ODI debuts against England that August. The Test at Wormsley turned out to be a historic win for India, and Pandey contributed with both bat and ball. It was a first sign of the kind of player she would be, an all-rounder who delivered at the moments that mattered.

Over the following years she became a trusted part of the attack, sharing the new ball with Jhulan Goswami. She was an important member of the sides that reached the final of the 2017 ODI World Cup and the 2020 T20 World Cup. In 2021, on the tour of Australia, an inswinger that bowled Alyssa Healy was named the ball of the summer, and it seemed she was settling in for years to come. Instead, her India story took an unexpected turn.

She was dropped soon afterwards in a decision that drew plenty of debate, and she missed the 2022 ODI World Cup. For more than a year she was out of the picture, but she kept working. In December 2022 her name appeared in the squad for the 2023 T20 World Cup in South Africa, a surprise recall that few had predicted. That global event would prove to be her last for India for some time, but Pandey did not slow down.

Outside the national set-up, Pandey became a regular on the global T20 circuit, turning out for Trinbago Knight Riders in the Women's CPL, Brisbane Heat in the WBBL and Canterbury Magicians in New Zealand. In the Women's Premier League she took the new ball for Delhi Capitals over the first three seasons, finishing with 30 wickets in 27 matches and helping the side reach the final in successive seasons. The market's verdict came at the 2025 mega auction, when UP Warriorz beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru to her signature and paid INR 2.4 crore, underlining the premium placed on her experience and enduring skill.