The teenager who announced herself in the Maharani Trophy by scoring more runs than anyone else in the tournament

Bengaluru

Rachitha Hatwar took this year’s Maharani Trophy by storm. Scoring a half-century and always supplying the runs quickly, she played a major role in the Mysore Warriors’ finishing runners-up and became the highest scorer of this edition in the process. However, the most impressive statistic is her age. She is 15 years old.

The success has given her much validation of her talents, she said, “After the Maharani Trophy, players actually got to know who I am so it’s been great since then that they value me more, which is a great feeling.”

While she describes herself as an introvert and doesn’t go up to players she admires, she said that the more seasoned players have been quite welcoming and encouraging to her, “Even if I don’t perform they are like, ‘we know that you are a great player and you’ve proved it’, they know ups and downs are obviously there but they’ll back me up because they know that everyday you cannot perform.”

Although form is temporary, for Hatwar, it’s not often that she doesn’t perform. She recalled a recent senior team match where she quickly got out and felt quite down subsequently. When she later played with the Under-19s, she scored a 55. The quick turnaround shows just how good she is, compared to other players her age. “I’m happy that I opened and scored well. Or else other players will also think chumma she got selected for seniors without doing anything. So again I proved here also why I got selected, I felt good about that.”

Having recently joined Karnataka Institute of Cricket (KIOC), the shift has levelled up her game. She trains every day with the institute’s coaches and spends an hour everyday with top coach Irfan Sait to work on her batting. “We work on attacking. It’s called power hitting, I’ll have one hard session with Irfan sir everyday. It’s like one day power hitting, one day skill.”

Hatwar is a player who thrives on the short format. She said her main aim when she goes out to bat is to ‘smack the bowlers’. She wants to score quickly and leave. Her favourite player is A.B. DeVilliers. She loves a lofted shot. “Sometimes I watch his videos before the game and all. I look at the shots he plays.” She said.

However, the time before that was traumatizing for her, after failing a bone test and being sidelined from state level matches, she recalled. “We got to know in the last moment, and it was heartbreaking. I had waited all year for that. I was not able to play those games. I was completely out of form for four or five months.” But since then, things have been on the up and up. 

Rachitha Hatwar has announced herself, but she does not think the credit belongs to her alone. She expressed much gratitude to all the coaches that are helping her, and wanted to name her father Ramesh Hatwar and her first coach Mohammed Armaan for teaching her the game and encouraging her. Her father is especially encouraging, she said, and always watches her bat and tells her where she could improve. Now that she has performed on the state level, she is eyeing the India Under-19s and is confident that if she keeps doing what she is doing, she will reach the next level.