As the auctioneer’s hammer came down to seal allrounder Joshitha VJ’s services for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in WPL 2025, the player herself was over 6,400 km away in Malaysia. Fresh of a win against Pakistan in the U19 Women’s Asia Cup, a nervous Joshitha couldn’t bear to watch the auction herself.
“I first got a message from the RCB manager,” she told Sportstar from Kuala Lumpur. “Three of us (Joshitha, G Kamalini, Niki Prasad) got picked. When each player was chosen, screams would emerge from a different room, it was quite funny.”
Joshitha is the latest export from Wayanad’s cricketing cradle – the same hotbed that gave India Minnu Mani and Sajeevan Sajana.
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“Minnu chechi showed us that it was possible for us to reach that level. They’ve played a huge role in inspiring so many like me to dream of a life in cricket,” Joshitha said.
The pace-bowling all-rounder has had stints as a net bowler with Delhi Capitals before and fondly looks back at everything she learnt from seniors like Shikha Pandey — her cricketing idol — and Arundhati Reddy. Ahead of the auction, Joshitha attended trials at Mumbai Indians and RCB, eventually ending up with the defending champion.
First order of business for the 18-year-old will be indulging the fangirl in her when she meets Ellyse Perry.
The young pacer, who can swing the bowl both ways, hopes to follow Minnu and Sajana’s footsteps and climb the ladders of Indian cricket, one step at a time.