Born on July 20th, 1961 in Calcutta (Kolkatta) is former Test and One Day International player for India, Gargi Banerjee.
So keen was this sports fanatic to play cricket she became, and still is, the youngest player to represent India (14 years, 165 days) in an ODI when she played a World Cup game against England on January 1st 1978.
Modest returns in the one-day game, but six years later Gargi made her debut in Test cricket, against Jill Kennare’s Australian team – the first official Test tour of India by that nation – and top scored in the second innings of that debut match with 63.
Gargi’s right hand batting was a mainstay of India’s team for 12 Test matches, but her medium fast bowling was more than handy and a bag of 6-9 against New Zealand at the Barabati Stadium, Cuttack in 1984/85 is testimony. (Second best return of all time for India behind Neetu David)
In her 12 Tests, she scored 614 runs at 27.90 with a high score of 75 and six half centuries to her name.
Post her playing career, Gargi has remained an essential part of women’s cricket in India, Chair of the selection committee from 2011-14 and in 2017 was awarded the prestigious honorary life membership of the MCC.