On Monday, 13 November, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced its newest inductees, for the year 2023, into the prestigious Hall of Fame.
The Hall of Fame was launched by the ICC on 2 January 2009, in order to recognise the achievements of some of the game's finest players. Aside from the initial list of 55 brought over from the FICA Hall of Fame, the five players inducted in 2009 were Wasim Akram, Clarrie Grimmett, Herbert Sutcliffe, Victor Trumper and Steve Waugh.
The 2023 inductees were all from Asia, with Sri Lanka's Aravinda de Silva and India's Virender Sehwag and Diana Edulji making the cut.
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Diana Edulji becomes first Indian women's cricketer to be inducted in ICC Hall of Fame
Edulji's nomination was a historic one as she became the first Indian female cricketer to receive the honour.
She is the twelfth woman overall to be inducted, after Rachel Heyhoe Flint, Belinda Clark, Enid Bakewell, Debbie Hockley, Betty Wilson, Karen Rolton, Claire Taylor, Cathryn Fitzpatrick, Lisa Sthalekar, Jan Brittin and Charlotte Edwards.
The ICC's statement recognised Edulji as 'a trailblazer both on and off the field'. Having played both basketball and table tennis at the junior national level, she switched to cricket and trained at a camp hosted by former Indian Test cricket Lala Amarnath.
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Edulji went on to represent Railways at the domestic level in India, before breaking into the national team as one of the premier left-arm orthodox bowlers of her time. Till date, she holds the record for the most deliveries bowled in women's Test cricket, with over 5000.
After her retirement, she was presented with India's greatest sports award, the Arjuna Award in 1983 before receiving the Padma Shri in 2002.
Her work as an administrator with Western Railways and the BCCI in order to improve the condition of women cricketers in the country has also been recognised, coming with tangible benefits for the players. In 2017, she became the first woman to be appointed to the BCCI's selection committee.
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