Purnima Rau (; born 30 January 1967) is an Indian former

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

er and current cricket coach. She played as an

all-rounder An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a handful of batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are consi ...

batting Batting may refer to: * Batting (baseball), the act of attempting to hit a ball thrown by the pitcher with a baseball bat, in order to score runs * Batting (cricket), the act of defending one's wicket with the cricket bat while attempting to score ...

right-handed and

bowling Bowling is a target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a ball toward pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). The term ''bowling'' usually refers to pin bowling (most commonly ten-pin bowling), thou ...

right-arm

off break Off spin is a type of finger spin bowling in cricket. A bowler who uses this technique is called an off spinner. Off spinners are right-handed spin bowlers who use their fingers to spin the ball. Their normal delivery is an off break, which spi ...

. She appeared in five Test matches and 33

One Day Internationals A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World Cup ...

for

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

between 1993 and 2000. She played domestic cricket for

Andhra Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

Railways Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

and Air India.

Playing career

Rau made her international debut for India against West Indies in an ODI at Nottingham on 20 July 1993. Her Test debut came against New Zealand at Nelson on 7 February 1995. Rau was described as one of the first players in Indian women's cricket to attempt to take advantage of the field restrictions in place during the first 15 overs of a limited overs game. She captained India in 3 Test matches and 8 ODI matches, all in 1995. In 1996 skipper Rau helped the touring Andhra Pradesh women's cricket team register a 114 run victory over Samudra Ladies CC. She captained Air India in the 1999/00 season.

Coaching career

Rau was head coach of

between 2014 and 2017. Currently, she is a coach associated with development of youth and women's cricketers in

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India ...

References

External links

* * 1967 births Living people People from Secunderabad Indian women cricketers India women Test cricketers India women One Day International cricketers Indian women cricket captains Andhra women cricketers Railways women cricketers Air India women cricketers Indian cricket coaches {{India-cricket-bio-1960s-stub