Having grabbed four wickets in nine overs, Goa captain Tejashwini Duragad was understandably keen on a fifer. It seemed achievable with the No. 10 and 11 players at the crease. But in the end, that was not to be, even though Goa crushed Gujarat by 108 runs in the Elite Group C match of the Women's U-19 one-day cricket tournament at the Academy ground, Porvorim, on Friday.Tejashwini has had to fight her way up. She was only one when her father, Neelappa Duragad, landed in Goa 18 years ago and had to search for work every single day."We came to Goa with nothing. My father worked as a labourer in the construction field. Every day, he used to search for work. We didn’t know what would happen the next day,” said Tejashwini, 19, now Goa’s most promising women cricketer.The Duragads lived in a room on a hill in Gogol. With nobody around, it was scary, until Tejashwini’s brother was born and she had someone to play. It wasn’t until she went to school at Holy Spirit HS that she got a taste of cricket, and had it not been for the physical education teacher, Bruno, her talent would have gone unnoticed.“I was in the fifth standard. He saw something in me as I always loved to play. He asked me 'can you play cricket'? I just nodded, though I knew nothing about the game. He handed me a ball.“That's how I got into cricket. Now, it’s been 10 years that I have been playing. Cricket is the only good thing in my life," said Tejashwini.Tejashwini took the game seriously and started performing well in various inter-school competitions, soon catching the attention of Goa coach Anuradha Redkar . The Goa coach took Tejashwini under her wings and since then there has been no looking back."If she keeps improving, there’s no doubt that she will make it to the India team like Shikha Pandey. It is a long road," said Redkar.In fact, Tejashwini has improved on her batting and is now a proven allrounder. She smashed a 62-ball 81 against Uttarakhand in the Women's U-19 T20 tournament held in Dharamsala. She finished with 14 wickets in six matches — a performance which earned her a place in the India Red team for the Challenger U-19 tournament.With matches against Tamil Nadu, Jammu & Kashmir, Saurashtra and Odisha coming up, Goa can rely on Tejashwini to deliver the goods. She’s been doing that for long now, and Goa is reaping the benefits as evident from the third consecutive victory on Friday.(Purvaja Verlekar 61, Tanaya Naik 29, Tejashwini Duragad 28; Stuti Jain 2-23) bt(Anjali Patel 31; Tejashwini 4-13, Diksha Gawde 2-16).

Stay updated with all the Latest Goa headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.