'Good Thing That The Monkey Is Off My Back'

This is a most-wanted list of a different kind. It’s the list that all bowlers want to be on. And two fast bowlers currently occupy the top two slots.

At the very top is an Indian, but for many years now, that position was held by an Australian. Finally, India’s Jhulan Goswami has claimed ODI cricket’s biggest record for bowlers: the most wickets in women’s ODIs, surpassing the woman who she looked up to, Cathryn Fitzpatrick.

GOSWAMI IS NOW RELIEVED.

She has finally achieved something that she has been after for two years now. For some time, she has been within touching distance of Fitzpatrick’s tally of 180 wickets. Finally at 34, 15 years into her in ternational career, Goswami has crossed it. And the timing was not bad at all.

“It’s good that it happened before the World Cup”, she said, speaking exclusively to Sportstar from South Africa. “It’s a good thing that the monkey is off my back.”

THE LOOMING WORLD CUP is the primary reason of her relief. Remember how much Sachin struggled as he closed in on 100 hundreds? To go into an important tournament, possibly one she may not play again, with the record still in sight, but not in hand would have been less than ideal. But aside from the relief, her dominant emotion was joy. “It feels good to finally get it,” she said.

But putting it out of her mind was not easy. “It was more challenging in the last few series”, she said. “It was there (in my mind) since the New Zealand series (June 2015). Earlier I was trying for the record, but then I finally decided to let it go and leave it to destiny. Then I started thinking about bowling well, from the Australia series (January 2016).”