Kashvee Gautam's simple agenda: 'providing breakthroughs and hitting the winning runs'

Kashvee Gautam's dream of playing for India hadn't taken off of proper earnest when it crashed.

Following a successful WPL 2025, where she picked up 11 wickets and helped Gujarat Giants (GG) make the playoffs for the first time, she earned a maiden call-up for the ODI tri-series in Sri Lanka also featuring South Africa. In a home ODI World Cup year, that meant a lot. But in the middle of her third game, she had to come off because of a knee injury. She was ruled out of that series and subsequently missed most of the 2025-26 recovering from it.

"When scans revealed the injury to my right knee, I was mentally prepared for two-three months [of rehab], but when recovery stretched to seven-eight months, it became very difficult," Gautam told ESPNcricinfo before WPL 2026. "I had missed a lot of cricket in the previous year [2024] with injury. I came back and did well and felt like I was in very good rhythm. But again I got injured, and it was tough to accept the fact."

Her haul in the last WPL was the joint-highest by an Indian bowler (alongside Shikha Pandey). She was then selected in Team D in the Senior Women's Multi-Day Challenger Trophy, where she scored a first-class century and picked up four wickets, the third-highest by a fast bowler. All that resulted in her maiden India call-up. With Pooja Vastrakar out of action since the T20 World Cup 2024, the chances of Gautam making the World Cup squad were bright.

"It was a dream come true for me as an allrounder, to bat at No. 6-7 and hit a century in days' cricket," Gautam said. "All of it was the impact of the WPL. Doing well for GG gave me so much confidence that it reflected in domestic cricket. It also led to the India call-up.

"We play cricket to play for India. When that happened, it was surreal. The standard in the WPL is so high that if you have an impact there, selectors look at you as someone who can play for India, too."

After GG were knocked out in the eliminator last year, Gautam met her idol, Mumbai Indians' IPL captain Hardik Pandya. He asked her about the weight of the bat she was using and promised her that he would give her one. One month later, Gautam received a text from Hardik asking if she was free and would be in Delhi, where Mumbai Indians (MI) were playing an IPL match.

"Honestly when he said he would give me a bat, I thought I would get it but sometime later when we meet again, and not so soon," Gautam recalled. "He told me he had a match or practice session in Delhi. He asked me if I could come there. I didn't think twice before saying yes. When I went there, I watched his net sessions for a while. After that, he came and called for his bat and gave it to me. He also told me 'achchha nahi laga toh batana, mai dobaara de dunga (If you don't like it, let me know, I'll give you another one)." When your idol says this to you, it feels so good.

"Then I met him at the [BCCI Centre of Excellence] when I was injured. He met me a couple of times there. He came and said, 'tell me if you need anything, even other than bats; if you want to speak to me about the injury and all, I am happy to help'. He was very open. I asked for one more bat since the WPL 2026 was approaching, and he gave me one more. He kept three of his bats in front of me and asked me to choose whichever I wanted.

"When such a big player behaves like this with you, with so much humility, so down to earth, it feels so good. I want to be like that - humble despite the success."

Gautam is only 22, but comes across as mature beyond her years. She missed out of India's ODI World Cup campaign but understands what a seismic moment it was for Indian cricket.

"It stings a little, when you know that you have a chance [of making it to the World Cup squad]," she said. "You know you are being talked about, so it does hurt when you miss out. I watched the entire World Cup. Overall from a women's cricket perspective, I feel very good that now there will be more opportunities. We saw that the domestic fees were hiked for the women. Overall, I felt happier. It is okay, World Cups will keep happening, but us [India] winning it was huge."

Gautam had played only two competitive matches before coming into WPL 2026. However, she worked a lot on her skills with her coach Nagesh Gupta in the ten days they got together before the tournament. They worked on being effective with the scrambled-seam delivery. They also worked on getting the wrist position right in order to extract swing. She has also been sharpening her bouncer, a glimpse of which D Hemalatha got on Friday.

"I want to provide breakthroughs with the ball," Gautam said about her primary goal. "I know I will be bowling in tricky situations - be it in the powerplay or at the death. So providing breakthroughs is my work. And then batting lower down the order and hitting the winning runs is my job."

For someone coming off a long injury layoff, Gautam has done quite well at the latest WPL. She has four wickets in four matches, and has been quite effective with the new ball. Among bowlers who have bowled at least five overs inside the powerplay, Gautam's economy of 7.75 is the fifth-best after the conclusion of the Navi Mumbai leg of WPL 2026. She has picked up three wickets inside the first six overs, which is the joint-second-best among all bowlers.

Even with the bat, she has left a mark. She was involved in a 56-run partnership off just 28 balls with Bharti Fulmali against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), even swinging Nadine de Klerk over deep square-leg for a huge six.

"Nagesh sir makes me do new drills at training," she says. "This time he taught me the no-look shot. Technically, it helps keep your head down and still after you play a big shot. He always encourages me, lifts me in terms of my batting. I am an allrounder, so he helps sharpen my thinking in various aspects."

Gautam's showing for GG at the WPL has given her another chance to further her India dreams: she has been recalled to the ODI setup for the tour of Australia next month. And with the Vadodara leg of WPL 2026 still to go, she knows that a few more impactful outings will bring her in contention for the T20 World Cup in June.