Shantha Rangaswamy Biography 
Shantha Rangaswamy is a former Indian female cricketer who was a member of India’s National team. A pioneer on and off the field, she helped to shape women's cricket in India. She played 16 test matches for team India from 1976 to 1991, captaining the side in 8 matches. Under her captaincy India recorded its first ever test victory in the history of India’s woman cricket. She placed India at this historic win in November 1976 against West Indies at the Moin-ul-Haq Stadium in Patna. She played a total of 16 test matches and 19 ODIs for team India, and led the team as captain for 16 ODIs too. She served as a right-handed batswoman to her team and also the first Indian Woman Cricketer who made Century in Test Match.
Her name is also referred to as Shanta Rangaswamy. She hails from Chennai, Tamil Nadu and was born in the year 1954. C. V. Rangaswamy and Rajalakshmi were her parents, and she has six sisters. She was raised in Bangalore. Her family had 4 engineers in the family, one PhD, one double graduate, and in terms of educational qualification, she was least qualified. It was indeed a great achievement as all her siblings were women who established themselves in the 1960s and 1970s in the educational field, which was not so easy.
In the world of test cricket she owns some records – first female cricketer from the country to score a test century and the first female captain to register a test win for India. She scored India Woman’s first test century against New Zealand at Dunedin. Her international career rested between 1976 and 1987 and she proved herself to be one of the best captains and players from female cricket. Rangaswamy became one of the most memorable cricketers of her time.
After retiring from international cricket, she took the charge of an administrator serving different positions at different points of times. Now she is a retired banker who writes on cricket. She retired as General Manager of Canara Bank (Bangalore Region). Government of India honoured her with Arjuna Award in 1976. In 2017 she was awarded with India Lifetime Achievement Award for Women.
Published: January 17, 2019
Updated: January 17, 2019
