As cliche as it might sound, Upendran believes Reddy had that aura about her even in the age-group cricket days. Those who saw her at that time could tell that she was made for the bigger stage. She had all the attributes of someone who could be the “Next Big Thing” but more importantly she wanted to be the best version of herself.
“Arundhati was one of those players who when you watch them for the first time, you understand that there is something special about them. We knew should things align and should she pursue it, she should definitely play at the international level. She always had the attributes to be a fast bowler. She was tall, athletic, accurate and had really solid action. She wanted to bowl fast, so she would run and hit the wicket hard.
“One of the names Purnima Rau (Former India international and coach) gave her when she came into the setup was “Choti Jhulu” (after veteran pacer Jhulan Goswami). She had short hair and used to tie a headband. She thrived on that nickname because she wanted to be Jhulu di,” Upendran reminisces about those early days.
Naturally, Reddy kept pursuing the dream and the stars did align finally in 2018, when she was called up for national duty during the T20I series against Sri Lanka. Ultimately, it was Upendran who had told this news to the pacer, which she did not believe in the first go. With the live streaming or the broadcast of the series not available anywhere, Upendran was vicariously living through the tweets sent out by Snehal Pradhan (former India international who was a journalist at that time) and Sri Lanka Cricket.
“The T20Is were not available to watch. Snehal was covering the game in Sri Lanka. I remember hanging onto every tweet that Snehal posted. When Arundhati walked in to bat, Snehal tweeted a photo of her. She also sent it to me. I couldn’t watch it, but I remember hanging on to every tweet that came from either Snehal or Sri Lanka Cricket and trying to live through them,” Upendran chuckles recalling the story.
Despite not getting a sure place in the playing XI every time India took the field, Reddy remained part of the Indian squad for the 2020 T20 World Cup in Australia and even for the series against South Africa in 2021 which happened right after a lengthy forced break due to Covid-19 and away series against England later the same year.
Since then, however, Reddy fell off the radar for one reason or the other. For someone who was told she was made for the biggest possible stage right from the tender age of adolescence, this rejection was hard to take. “When you are constantly feeding the 12-13-year-old that you are the next big thing, as confidence-building as all these things are, it puts so much pressure on young players. Because you are coming with all these expectations, people expect you to perform like a finished product. Without realising high potential doesn’t necessarily include being ready for performance,” Upendran explains
“When she got into any setup, because she was naturally gifted, people expected her to play at the international level, even when she was just one or two years into her international career. I think there is a lot of pressure she dealt with right from the start of her career. When you are not able to convert that potential into performance it feels even worse because people then say, well this is a waste of talent and what not,” the former India A all-rounder adds.
Not finding a place amongst the top players in the country had its share of impact on Reddy. At the same time, she was part of the star-studded Railways lineup in domestic cricket, where she again had to fight for her place in the Playing XI. The situation was not getting better and all Upendran could do was watch her friend from a distance and try to share the pain as much as she could.
