Sneh Rana on ODI World Cup, Australia sequence, studying from Ashwin

In case you occur to fulfill Sneh Rana and strike up a dialog about cricket and life, her one-line items of recommendation could appear informal at first. However for Sneh, these phrases carry weight and have a method of manifesting into actuality.

The off-spinner returned to the Indian girls’s staff set-up final April after a spot of two years, and her terrific run culminated within the staff lifting its maiden ODI World Cup on residence soil.

Having collected the Nationwide Staff of the Yr honour on the Sportstar ACES Awards 2026, alongside teammate Deepti Sharma and bowling coach Aavishkar Salvi, Sneh sat down for a chat on life after the historic triumph and her evolution as a participant.

Excerpts:

What has modified for you when it comes to visibility publish the World Cup win?

Individuals used to say that women shouldn’t be given model offers. I believe that has modified lots. Furthermore, wherever we go, folks simply recognise us. The main influence is seeing extra feminine cricketers on the sphere who need to play for the nation. We see it in golf equipment, the place there are a variety of admissions coming in for ladies athletes.

You returned to the Indian set-up final yr earlier than the Tri-Nation Collection in Sri Lanka. Do you keep in mind the decision you obtained?

I don’t keep in mind once I received the call-up. However I will need to have been enjoying someplace [laughs]. I had religion in myself and my exhausting work. You requested me in regards to the ‘ComebackQueen’ tag — I received it as a result of I don’t quit simply. I received that call-up as a result of while you work exhausting, and nobody’s you, that arduous work bears fruit.

(Left to proper) India girls’s bowling coach Aavishkar Salvi, together with Sneh Rana and Deepti Sharma, settle for the Nationwide Staff of the Yr award from Shubhangi Kulkarni, Nilima Joglekar, and Praveen Chandra (SVP, Taj Group) on the Sportstar ACES Awards 2026. 
| Photograph Credit score:
EMMANUAL YOGINI

Within the two years that you simply missed worldwide cricket (between 2023 and 2025), had been you injured or not a part of the set-up?

It wasn’t an harm. The one time I used to be out of the staff due to one was in 2016. After I returned after 5 years (in 2021), I had been out and in of the aspect.

Deepti Sharma and your self are off-spin bowling all-rounders. When there are two skilled gamers of the identical profile vying for a spot within the staff, is there a rivalry? What are the conversations like between you each?

Deepti and I debuted in 2014, and we’ve got been enjoying collectively since then. It feels actually good once I share the sphere together with her. Lots of people don’t know this, however we discuss lots in between overs, as a result of we are likely to share the ball. We make a technique of what’s going on at one finish, what you’ll use on the different finish, in order that it advantages the staff. There ought to all the time be a candy rivalry so that you simply don’t take your home as a right.

You’ve performed fairly a little bit of home cricket and have completed in order just lately as final yr. Do you suppose the extent has caught up with that of worldwide cricket?

Sure, it has improved lots after the 2017 World Cup. Everybody’s taking girls’s cricket significantly, and the Ladies’s Premier League (WPL) has lots to do with it. It’s grow to be a profession possibility. From the time I began enjoying home cricket some 12-15 years again, there’s been an enormous change in mindset. The method to cricket has modified. There’s a variety of readability about what gamers need to do and the way they’ll play for India.

What had been your takeaways from the Australia sequence?

We arrived with a constructive mindset. Beating Australia within the T20I sequence, that too of their yard, is a giant deal. And let me let you know, once we defeated them 10 years in the past, I used to be a part of that tour too. One way or the other, we couldn’t carry the identical mindset ahead into the ODIs and the Check. However, as they are saying, failure teaches you. So day-after-day is a brand new studying expertise. I’d say that our angle was one constructive factor. It’s not straightforward to play back-to-back matches.

You’ve gotten some fond reminiscences in Check cricket, particularly your debut towards England in 2021 while you made that 80 to assist draw the match. You’ve additionally been a part of 5 out of six Checks India has performed from 2021 to now. Earlier than that, India had final performed red-ball cricket within the 2014-15 season. Do you suppose India’s large loss to Australia on this sequence is because of an absence of matches performed? If that’s the case, what do you suppose wants to alter for ladies’s groups to play extra Checks?

Sneh Rana indicators autographs throughout Day 3 of the Check match between Australia and India earlier this month.
| Photograph Credit score:
Getty Photographs

There are various components leading to any loss in cricket. Much less publicity to Check cricket is certainly one among them. We have now a few Checks arising this yr. Perhaps we are able to see a couple of Check-specific sequence within the close to future, which can assist us in bettering our abilities within the longest format, and in abroad situations.

There are a variety of spinners within the present Indian set-up, a lot of them younger and with years forward of them. How do you consistently evolve your sport, particularly within the T20 format, to compete?

If I speak about myself, I’ve realized a variety of variations. My idol, R. Ashwin, who’s a grasp of spin, informed me to only be assured and have perception in myself. We continue to learn within the nets. ‘If I bowl like this, or with a grip like this, what is going to occur?’ We benefit from the course of. With our bowling coach, Aavishkar (Salvi) sir, we preserve speaking and experimenting. I believe that is the way in which to evolve. You discover a new method by your self, a approach to specific your self.

[On batting] I’ve been engaged on it for years now. I give myself a situation — ‘it’s important to make 10 runs in 4 balls, or 15 runs in 4 balls. How will you method batting? What ought to your mindset be at the moment?’ If you put your self in a troublesome scenario like that within the nets, it displays through the match.

With the T20 World Cup simply months away, what areas does India want to enhance in? Bowling has been an space of concern at instances. Do you suppose so too?

I’d not say significantly bowling, however with the sort of pitches being ready, it’s troublesome to bowl. However we’re engaged on that. We make methods. We discuss to coaches. What if the scenario arises the place it’s important to defend a run off the final ball? So, we give ourselves that situation. Wanting ahead, we are going to apply no matter we’re engaged on within the South Africa sequence.

Printed on Mar 21, 2026