Kiran Maqsood Baluch (born 23 February 1978) is a Pakistani 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 st ...

er who 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 ru ...

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), though ...

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 sp ...

. She appeared in three Test matches and 40

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

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. She holds the record for the highest score in women's Test cricket, scoring 242 against the West Indies in

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. She played domestic cricket for

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...

Early life and introduction to cricket

Born as the eldest child of her family, Baluch started playing cricket at a young age. As a child, she also played

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and

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players p ...

since her school did not have facilities for women to play cricket. Her father was a professional cricketer who played in tournaments like the

Quaid-e-Azam Trophy The Quaid-e-Azam Trophy is a domestic first-class cricket competition in Pakistan. With few exceptions, it has been staged annually since it was first played during the 1953–54 season. Domestic cricket in Pakistan has undergone many reorganis ...

and for teams like

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and

Pakistan International Airlines Pakistan International Airlines ( ur, ; abbreviated PIA, ur, ) is an international airline that serves as the national flag carrier of Pakistan under the administrative control of the Aviation Secretary of Pakistan, Secretary to the Governme ...

. He used to teach her bowling, and Baluch played regularly with her father and her youngest brother.

Entry into the national team

In October 1996, the

Pakistan Women's Cricket Control Association Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

headed by

Shaiza Khan Shaiza Said Khan (born 18 March 1969) is a Pakistani former cricketer who played as a right-arm leg break bowler and right-handed batter. She and her sister, Sharmeen, are considered pioneers of women's cricket in Pakistan. She appeared in th ...

was on look out for players on a trial basis to build a team that was set to tour Australia and New Zealand. Baluch was approached by Khan to be a part of the team. Until 1997, Baluch did not play any competitive cricket. Her first major tournament was the Fatima Jinnah Trophy, an annual domestic tournament in Pakistan. Following that, she was selected in the national side that toured Australia and New Zealand in 1997 to play three ODIs and a few domestic games. Baluch represented Pakistan women's cricket team in their first ever ODI match, played against New Zealand in January 1997. Pakistan was bowled out for 56 runs, with Baluch being the top-scorer with 19 runs. Pakistan lost the match by 10 wickets. In the next game she was out for a duck. Her poor performance continued in the subsequent series' in Australia and India. During the season, in one of the matches played against

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in India, she picked up 2 wickets for 13 runs, which remain her best ODI bowling figures. Baluch was then picked for the Test squad that toured Sri Lanka in 1998. The Pakistan women's cricket team played its first ever Test match in the series. Playing in her first Test match, Baluch made top-scored for her team with 76 in the first innings. However, the hosts won the match by 309 runs. In her next match against

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in 2000 she was out for a duck. The team then played against the West Indies in a home series in

. In the only Test match of the series, she made 242 runs in the first innings. The total is the highest individual score by a player in

Women's Test cricket Women's Test cricket is the longest format of women's cricket and is the female equivalent to men's Test cricket. Matches comprise four-innings and are held over a maximum of four days between two of the leading cricketing nations. The rules gov ...

as of 2021. She also achieved her career-best Test bowling performance in the third innings of the match when she took 2 wickets for 41 runs.

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Baluch, Kiran 1978 births Living people People from Jacobabad District Pakistan women Test cricketers Pakistan women One Day International cricketers Karachi women cricketers Baloch people