Five days before she completed a year in international cricket, on 23 June, N Sree Charani was crowned the number 1-ranked T20I bowler in women’s cricket. The staggering rise was accentuated by her performance in this year’s Women’s T20 World Cup. Although India could not make it past the group stages in England, Charani stood atop the wicket-takers’ leaderboard, with 14 scalps.

Since her T20I debut in April last year, the left-arm spinner has taken 44 wickets in T20I cricket – the highest among bowlers from Test-playing nations. After yet another decent outing in the team’s 2026 Women’s Asia Cup opener against Thailand, where he took a couple of wickets for 10 runs, Charani found praise from the team’s bowling coach, Aavishkar Salvi, who said she had been impactful from the very start of her India journey.

“I think she (Sree Charani) is an exceptional talent. She has created an impact from day one that she has stepped into the Indian women’s cricket team. And one year down the line, you see where she has reached in the rankings as well. I think she is someone who focuses majorly on her basics while she is practising in the nets,” Salvi told reporters on Wednesday, ahead of India’s second fixture against Hong Kong.

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Salvi also said that Charani was a keen learner and puts herself in different situations to gain something that could add to her bowling.

“She wants to learn something every day. And if you see the practice sessions, you will see every single time that she comes into the nets, she challenges herself to different, different situations. She tries to express herself in the nets too,” he added.

Although Harmanpreet Kaur & Co.’s title charge began with a commanding 94-run triumph over Thailand, India’s mid-innings collapse – losing eight wickets for 46 runs – was a cause for concern. Salvi, though, shrugged it off, saying, “That’s the nature of the sport. We are playing T20 cricket. So it’s not that every time that we get into (the field) we will be executing our plans. There will be times when we will probably not execute the plans as great as we would have wanted to.”

India vs Hong Kong, from 8 pm on Sony Sports Network and Sony LIV.