Ekta Bisht: Uttarakhand’s Pioneering Spin Queen

Ekta Bisht holds a rare distinction in Indian cricket - she was the first international woman cricketer to emerge from Uttarakhand. A left arm orthodox spinner known for her control and match winning spells, she also became the first Indian cricketer, male or female, to take a hat trick in a Women's T20 International.

Her journey from playing gully cricket with boys in the hills of Almora to representing India on the world stage remains one of the most inspiring stories in Indian women’s cricket.

Ekta Bisht was born on 8 February 1986 in Almora, Uttarakhand, into a Hindu Rajput family. Her father, Kundan Singh Bisht, is a retired Havaldar of the Indian Army, and her mother, Tara Bisht, is a homemaker. She has three elder siblings – Kaushal, Vineet, and Shweta.

Bisht began playing cricket at the age of six, often as the only girl among a team of boys, which regularly drew curious crowds. To support her daughter’s cricketing ambitions on a modest army pension, her father ran a small tea stall in Almora for years, a sacrifice that eased only after Ekta’s selection for the Indian team brought in sponsorship support.

She was mentored in her formative years by coach Liyakat Ali Khan, who trained the Uttaranchal Women’s Cricket Association side, and she went on to captain Kumaon University in the North Zone university circuit.

Bisht captained the Uttarakhand women’s cricket team in 2006 before moving to Uttar Pradesh, for whom she played from 2006-07 to 2012-13. She then represented Railways from 2013 to 2022, one of Indian domestic cricket’s strongest women’s sides, before returning to play for Uttarakhand again from 2022 onward, where she has continued to mentor younger players as a senior presence.

Ekta Bisht made her T20I debut for India on 23 June 2011 against Australia at Billericay, followed shortly by her ODI debut against the same opponent on 2 July 2011 at Chesterfield. Her Test debut came a few years later, in August 2014, against England at Wormsley.

Her performances steadily grew sharper, and in February 2017 she produced a career defining spell against Pakistan, taking five wickets while conceding just eight runs a display of control that helped bowl Pakistan out for a record low total against India.

In October 2012, playing against Sri Lanka at the ICC Women’s World Twenty20 in Colombo, Bisht claimed a hat-trick in the final over of Sri Lanka’s innings, restricting them to a modest total and helping India seal the win. The feat made her the first Indian cricketer across both the men’s and women’s game to take a hat-trick in Women’s T20I cricket, a record that still defines her legacy in the format.

Bisht was a key part of the Indian squad that reached the final of the 2017 ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup, eventually losing a tense contest to England by nine runs at Lord’s. Her standout contribution came in the league phase against arch rivals Pakistan, where she returned figures of 5 wickets for 18 runs from her full ten overs, helping India secure a commanding 95-run victory.

• 5/18 vs Pakistan - 2017 ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup, England
• 2017 World Cup Finalist - India lost to England by 9 runs
• First Indian T20I Hat-Trick - vs Sri Lanka, 2012 World T20
• 5/8 vs Pakistan - Bilateral ODI series, February 2017

Across formats, Bisht has established herself among India’s most prolific wicket takers. She became the fifth Indian woman to cross 100 international wickets, going on to finish among India’s top wicket takers in both ODIs and T20Is.

In 2017 alone, she was the joint second-highest wicket taker in ODIs worldwide, picking up 29 wickets in 16 matches at an average of 17.27 – a year that also earned her a rare double recognition from the ICC.

Bisht featured in the Women’s T20 Challenge (the precursor to the WPL), playing for Trailblazers in 2018 and for Velocity across the 2019 and 2020 seasons.

She went unsold in the inaugural WPL auction in 2023, but earned a Women’s Premier League contract in the December 2023 auction, when Royal Challengers Bangalore signed her at her base price of ₹60 lakh for the 2024 season, valuing her as an experienced spin option. RCB retained her for the 2025 season at the same price, before releasing her ahead of the 2026 auction in November 2025.

Alongside her own Khel Ratna honour, her long-time coach Liyakat Ali Khan was awarded the Dronacharya Award the same year, recognising the mentor behind her rise.

Ekta Bisht is unmarried and keeps her personal life largely private, rarely discussing relationships in public or on social media. No husband or confirmed partner has been named in any credible report, and she has focused her public presence almost entirely on her cricket career.

Off the field, she is known to be close to her family in Almora and continues to credit her father’s sacrifices and her early coach’s mentorship for shaping her career. She is also active on Instagram, where she shares glimpses of her training, matches, and life in Uttarakhand.

Ekta Bisht’s career is remembered for far more than numbers on a scorecard.

Her journey represents Uttarakhand’s growing sporting success, with athletes like race walker mansi negi from Chamoli also making their mark on the national and international stage.

She is widely regarded as:

• Uttarakhand’s first international woman cricketer, opening the door for the state’s future talent
• The first Indian cricketer, in either the men’s or women’s game, to take a Women’s T20I hat-trick
• A key architect of India’s historic run to the 2017 World Cup final
• A mentor now helping build Uttarakhand’s women’s cricket structure from within

From a tea stall in Almora to the biggest stages in world cricket, Ekta Bisht’s journey remains a defining chapter in the rise of women’s cricket from India’s hill states.