My aggressive nature has gone against me sometimes: Veda Krishnamurthy
Veda Krishnamurthy is one of the Indian women's cricket team’s most aggressive batters but it often is the over-aggression which results in her undoing. Things haven’t panned out as Veda Krishnamurthy would have planned after beginning her ODI career with a fifty on debut against England back in 2011.
“My aggressive nature has definitely gone against me sometimes in my career. The higher the reward associated with risk, higher is the chance of missing out.
“But I like to stick to my natural game. If it comes off, it will flip the match in such a way that the opponents cannot come back. Sometimes because of me, things have gone wrong for the team, but that’s cricket. I am the nail in the coffin, either for my team or the other team, depends on how that day turns out,” Veda Krishnamurthy said speaking on Indian Express' Facebook Live session.
An average of 25.9 in ODIs and 18.61 in T20s doesn’t make for great reading although Veda Krishnamurthy also has eight half-centuries to her name so far.
"The biggest mistake of my cricket career was that I thought I was the greatest player when I was 18. I thought I was bigger than the game, that nobody could be better than me.
"It was only in 2014-15 when things started to fall in place for me. I realised cricket is bigger than anyone. This is true for life as well. You need to have gratitude, appreciation for what you have," Veda Krishnamurthy said.
Harmanpreet Kaur and Mithali Raj are doing a fantastic job in their formats: Veda Krishnamurthy
Although she has rubbed shoulders with both Mithali Raj and Harmanpreet Kaur in the Indian women’s team, Veda Krishnamurthy’s style of batting is much more similar to the latter.
"Mithali is very calm on the field. You discuss your plans beforehand, you are told what your role is, if you are not able to execute your role, she discusses it in the team meeting later.
"Harmanpreet is a more on-field captain. She is more aggressive, she is always telling you what to do. Both are very good in their own ways and are doing a fantastic job in the different formats right now," Veda Krishnamurthy said comparing Mithali Raj and Harmanpreet Kaur.
However between the two, Veda Krishnamurthy still considers Mithali Raj as her idol.
“Mithali Raj scored a 200 in a two-day match when I had just started playing for Karnataka. I was struck by how effortlessly she scored her runs. When I first batted with her, I called up a friend and told her, ‘Do you know who I batted with today?’ That’s the kind of influence she had on us. I have learnt a lot in the 8-9 years I have spent with her,” Veda Krishnamurthy said.