Sneh Rana: Cricketer

Sneh Rana's story is one of the most quietly remarkable journeys in Indian women's cricket – a farmer's daughter from a small Uttarakhand village who once disguised herself as a boy just to get a game with the local children, and who went on to become the sole Uttarakhandi representative in India's cricket set-up, a Test record-holder, and a World Cup champion.

Sneh Rana was born on 18 February 1994 in Sinaula, a village on the outskirts of Dehradun, Uttarakhand, into a Hindu Rajput farming family. Her father, Bhagwan Singh Rana, worked as a farmer, while her mother, Vimla Rana, managed the household; she has an elder sister, Ruchi Rana.

Growing up in a region with little cricketing tradition and few opportunities for girls in the sport, Rana began playing with boys in her neighbourhood from around the age of seven, at times reportedly disguising herself as a boy simply to be allowed to play. At around age nine or ten, she joined the Little Master's Cricket Academy in Dehradun, where she began formal training. She completed her schooling at Doon Valley Public School, Dehradun.

Sneh Rana learned the fundamentals of the game at the Little Master's Cricket Academy in Dehradun, under coaches Narendra Shah and his wife, Kiran Shah. It was here that she developed both her off-spin bowling and her lower-order batting technique, laying the foundation for a career built on all-round utility rather than a single standout skill.

Her early performances did not go unnoticed – playing for her Dehradun team at just 10 years old in an Allahabad club tournament, she picked up the Woman of the Series award, an early sign of the composure that would later define her international career.

Rana began her senior domestic career representing Punjab from the 2010-11 season through to 2017-18, during which time she also completed part of her education at BBK DAV College for Women in Amritsar. In 2015-16, she moved to Railways, one of the strongest domestic sides in Indian women's cricket, where she has remained a mainstay ever since &n-dash; captaining the side to the Senior Women's One Day Trophy title in 2021 and to the T20 Trophy the following year.

Sneh Rana made her India debut in January 2014 against Sri Lanka, playing both her Women's ODI debut (19 January, Visakhapatnam) and her Women's T20I debut (26 January, Vizianagaram) within the same series, at just 19 years old. In her ODI debut, she bowled a tidy spell of 6-4-7-1 in a low-scoring match that India won comfortably.

Just as she was building momentum in the national set-up, a serious knee injury in 2016 forced Rana out of international contention for nearly five years. She underwent surgery and a long rehabilitation process, continuing to grind through domestic cricket for Railways during a period when a return to the India side seemed increasingly uncertain. To compound her difficulties, she lost her father, Bhagwan Singh Rana, in 2021, just months before what would become her Test debut – a loss she has since spoken about as a defining motivation for her comeback.

Rana earned a recall to India's Test squad for the one-off match against England in 2021, and made her debut at Bristol on 16 June 2021 at the age of 27. What followed became the stuff of Indian cricket folklore: batting at No. 9, she struck an unbeaten 80, adding a record-breaking 104-run ninth-wicket partnership with Taniya Bhatia – the second highest of its kind in women's Test history to help India salvage a memorable draw, while also picking up four wickets in the match.

• 2022 Women's Asia Cup: Part of India's title-winning squad.
• 2022 Commonwealth Games (Birmingham): Represented India in the cricket tournament.
• 2024 vs South Africa (Chepauk): Took a maiden five-wicket haul and finished with match figures of 8/77, becoming the second woman spinner in the world, and the first from India, to take a ten-wicket haul in a Test match.
• 2023 vs Australia (Wankhede): Claimed 7 wickets against Australia at home, earning Player of the Match honours.
• 2025 ICC Women's Cricket World Cup: Played a vital all-round role as India lifted their maiden World Cup title on home soil.

Across formats, Rana has built a reputation as a dependable lower-order all-rounder whose greatest impact has come through her disciplined off-spin bowling.

Her highest individual score remains her unbeaten 80 on Test debut against England (2021), while her best-ever bowling figures came against South Africa at Chepauk in 2024, where her 8/77 in the second innings sealed a historic ten-wicket match haul.

Note: ODI and T20I figures are approximate and reflect the latest publicly available career totals as of late 2025; these numbers continue to update as Rana plays further international matches.

Sneh Rana was picked up by Gujarat Giants for ₹75 lakh in the inaugural Women's Premier League auction in February 2023, and impressively captained the side in Beth Mooney's absence during that debut season. After going unsold in the 2025 auction, she was signed by Royal Challengers Bengaluru as an injury replacement for the injured Shreyanka Patil, delivering some valuable performances during the campaign. Ahead of the WPL 2026 season, she was picked up by Delhi Capitals for ₹50 lakh, adding her experience and calm temperament to a squad chasing its maiden WPL title.

Sneh Rana is unmarried and keeps her personal life almost entirely private, rarely addressing questions about relationships in interviews or on social media. No husband or public partner has been credibly reported, and her public presence remains focused squarely on her cricket career and her mentorship of young players.

Following India's 2025 World Cup triumph, Indian Railways – her domestic employer promoted her to the position of Officer on Special Duty (OSD) in recognition of her contribution to the win. She remains close to her family in Dehradun, regularly credits her late father and her mother for her journey, and is known to mentor young girls from smaller towns hoping to break into competitive cricket.

Sneh Rana's career carries significance well beyond her own statistics.

She is widely regarded as:

• Uttarakhand's sole representative in the India Women's national cricket team, carrying the weight of the state's cricketing ambitions
• A symbol of resilience, having rebuilt her career from a five-year injury layoff and personal tragedy to become a World Cup winner
• The first Indian woman spinner to take a ten-wicket haul in a Test match
• An inspiration for young girls from small towns and villages, showing that a cricketing career is possible even without early institutional support

Alongside Ekta Bisht, Sneh Rana has further strengthened Uttarakhand's presence in Indian women's cricket.

From playing disguised among the boys in Sinaula to lifting the World Cup with India, Sneh Rana's journey remains one of the most powerful comeback stories in Indian cricket.