Kranti Gaud’s teammate and friend from UP Warriorz, Shipra Giri, recalled a conversation the two had on July 10. “Kranti expressed her wish to have her name on the Lord’s Honours Board. The next day, she actually made it happen. It speaks a lot about her,” Giri told ThePrint.
Kranti made history by becoming the first woman ever to have her name inscribed on the Lord’s Honours Board, on the second day of India’s women’s Test against England. The milestone came off the back of a five-wicket haul, finishing with figures of 5 for 37.
The 22-year-old achieved the feat along with her teammate Yastika Bhatia, who scored a Test century (113) in the same match, becoming the first woman to secure a spot on the batting honours board. Their names are now etched alongside legends like Dilip Vengsarkar, Rahul Dravid and Kapil Dev.
Riding on their sensational performance, India beat England by 270 runs as the first women’s Test in the history of Lord’s. The match concluded with the hosts getting dismissed for 186 while chasing a target of 457 runs. Former Indian captain Ravi Shastri, watching Kranti from the commentary box, called it a “treasure she would carry for the rest of her life.”
Kranti is scouted
UP Warriorz fielding coach Saurabh Bandekar first spotted Kranti in 2024, while she was playing in the Women’s Senior One Day Trophy against West Bengal. At the time, he was scouting talent for the 2025 Women Premier League (WPL) season. Her bowling pace, which clocking 115 kmph, immediately stood out to him. Two years later, he watched her from his television on July 11. “I knew she was a one-of-a-kind talent but never expected her to script history in just two years. It’s commendable,” Bandekar told ThePrint, describing Kranti as “raw and rare.”
Her selection in the UP Warriorz team gave Kranti a bigger platform to showcase her gift. “As a franchise, we look for talent that hasn’t played. We got wind of her but when we saw her bowl in the WPL trials in Surat, we could notice that her action was different from other women cricketers,” Kshemal Waingankar, COO, UP Warriorz told ThePrint.
Pace, Waingankar explained, remains scarce among Indian women bowlers. And that is precisely what made Kranti stand out. The franchise backed Waingankar’s instinct and picked Kranti at her base price of Rs 10 lakh in the 2025 auction. A year later, they retained her for Rs 50 lakh. Unlike Bandekar, Waingankar wasn’t surprised at all by Kranti’s feats at Lord’s.
“She has the talent to swing the ball both ways. The overcast conditions or swinging weather assisted her. Combined with the famous Lord’s slope, the moisture-laden air helped her deliveries nip sharply into the batters,” he explained.
From Ghuwara to Lord’s
The word Kranti literally means ‘revolution’. But long before the pacer earned a platform to prove herself, it was her parents who staged the first revolution in Ghuwara, a tribal-majority village in Madhya Pradesh’s Chhatarpur district. Girls in Kranti’s village weren’t even allowed to step outside freely, let alone dream of playing cricket for a living. Yet, Munna Singh Gaud and Neelam Gaud went against the tide to give their daughter wings to fly.
“If girls go out or try to do anything, they have to face taunts and criticism from people. But I always believed that those who keep working hard never lose,” Kranti said in a post-match interview last month.
Her family’s circumstances, however, made that defiance even harder. Kranti’s father Munna Singh worked as a police constable, until his dismissal from the forces in 2012 disrupted the household’s finances. Her eldest brother had to quit his studies and take up work to keep the family afloat. Given the hardships, cricket was a luxury. But the family didn’t give up. Her mother sold her jewellery, so that she could buy Kranti a proper kit.
“That was a huge sacrifice,” Kranti said, in a post-match interview. “It gave me the strength to keep going and keep chasing my goal. When you know your family is with you, the world outside becomes easier to ignore. I am grateful to them for standing by me through every step of this journey because there were a lot of problems. My family was doing so much for me, and that made me feel responsible. I wanted to give something back to them. I wanted to make their sacrifices count.”
Kranti, who is the youngest of six children, quit school after class 8 to pursue cricket. While other girls in her village played among themselves, Kranti would watch the boys take over the ground. Her first break came almost by accident, when a local boys’ team found itself short of a player.
“When Kranti got a chance to play, she scored 25 runs and took two wickets. She became player of the match in her very first attempt,” Roshni Gaud, Kranti’s sister, told The Hindu.
From there until 2017, Kranti kept turning up for boys’ teams in local tournaments, playing with a rubber or tennis ball because that was all they had.
Kranti’s bowling
In 2017, she joined the cricket academy of Rajeev Bilthare, who was the sports officer at Chhatarpur Cricket Association. For the first few years under Bilthare, Kranti primarily played as a batter. It was only after he clocked her fitness and natural pace that Bilthare began redirecting her towards bowling, particularly swing mechanics.
“The next two-three years were full of struggle for her but she remained consistent,” Bilthare said. Bilthare specifically worked with her on mastering the inswing to attack the stumps from a good length, which has now become her hallmark.
Kranti fondly calls Bilthare “guru ji.” On his birthday, she shared a special post on Instagram. Bilthare has been one of her loudest cheerleaders. From saving newspaper cuttings of her achievements to celebrating her five-wicket haul at Lord’s, the coach never misses a moment to cherish her achievements.
Kranti made her India debut in the final of a tri-series tournament against Sri Lanka on May 11, 2025 in Colombo. Although she didn’t take any wickets, she conceded only 22 runs in her five overs. Two months later, on her first tour of England, she returned with 6 wickets while conceding 52 runs. This performance sealed her World Cup selection, where she went on to take nine wickets across eight matches.
“Kranti’s achievement will encourage young girls not only from the region but also other small cities and towns to take up cricket,” Bandekar said.
In her first WPL match for UP Warriorz in 2025, Kranti clean bowled Delhi Capitals’ skipper Meg Lanning, who is a seven-time World Cup winner from Australia. This was Kranti’s first-ever wicket in the WPL.
“She didn’t know who Lanning was,” Waingankar said. “That shows her mindset towards the sport. She just wants to play good cricket. Kranti isn’t someone who would get intimidated, she is very confident on the field.” Now, Kranti and Lanning play for the same franchise, UP Warriorz.
Brings the fun off-field
While Kranti is fiery on the field, in the dressing room she lightens up the mood, even on days the team faces a defeat. Bandekar describes her as someone who is very “bindaas.”
“Her headphones are on and she keeps singing and dancing. She enjoys Bhojpuri music a lot. She is very popular among overseas players at UP Warriorz because of this attitude,” he said.
Giri described Kranti as having two sides. The serious one comes out during practice sessions and matches; while off the field she is happy-go-lucky. Giri is particularly a fan of Kranti’s humility.
“She never makes us feel that she has become a big cricketer who represents India. Kranti isn’t pretentious at all. She likes keeping everyone together. Even after the Lord’s achievement, there is no arrogance in her,” she said.
(Edited by Aakriti Handa)