For Keerthana Balakrishnan, it was a historic day as she became the first cricketer from Tamil Nadu to be picked to play in the Women’s Premier League (WPL). 

On Saturday on 9th December defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) picked Keerthana at her base price of INR 10 lakhs after auctioneer Mallika Sagar raised the hammer for her.

The all-rounder was one of the five players brought by MI along with Amandeep Kaur, S Sajana, Fatima Jaffer and former South Africa fast bowler Shabnim Ismail.

Veteran Indian men’s wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik was over the moon after Keerthana bagged her maiden WPL contract for the team, led by national skipper Harmanpreet Kaur.

Keerthana has trained under TS Mukund, the father of veteran batter Abhinav Mukund, at his academy. A leg spinner by profession, Keerthana is also handy with the bat in hand, scoring useful runs in the lower middle-order.

TS Mukund coaches young cricketers from lower society and doesn’t charge money from them. Apart from the training that he gives, Mukund also provides cricket equipment for his students.

Keerthana is from a humble background as her father is a call taxi driver. After being picked up a team as big and successful as MI, the 23-year-old will be looking to make a mark.

Having played for four teams – Tamil Nadu Women, Indian Green Women, South Zone Women and Orange Dragons Women – Keerthana has played with some of the big names of Indian cricket.

In the 2021-22 Freyer Cup, she scored 102 runs at an average of 34 and a strike-rate of 86. Apart from that, she also picked up four wickets. She also has 3 three-wicket hauls while playing for Tamil Nadu Women in One-Day tournaments.