Former India cricketer and former head coach Ravi Shastri was among 11 sportspersons honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Sports Journalists Association of Mumbai on July 2, 2025.
The recipients also included former India women’s cricket captain Shubhangi Kulkarni, three-time Amateur World English Billiards Champion Michael Ferreira, table tennis player Niraj Bajaj, and chess Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay.
Prominent shooters Anjali Bhagwat, Suma Shirur, and Deepali Deshpande were recognised as well, alongside hockey Olympians Mervyn Fernandes and Joaquim Carvalho. Former national badminton champion and team captain Sanjay Sharma was also honoured.
The leg-break all-rounder Shubhangi Kulkarni represented the Maharashtra women’s cricket team in domestic competitions and made her international debut in India’s first women’s cricket series against the West Indies in 1976.
In the first innings of her debut match, she claimed a five-wicket haul against the West Indies at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. With the bat, she contributed a valuable 26 not out lower down the order in India’s first innings. She also picked up two wickets in the second innings of the Test, which eventually ended in a draw.
In her ODI debut against New Zealand in the 1978 World Cup at the Moin-ul-Haq Stadium in Patna, she scored 23 runs with the bat but went wicketless. India lost the match by nine wickets.
Over a 15-year Test career, she played 19 matches, scoring 700 runs. Batting lower down the order, she averaged nearly 24 and recorded two half-centuries and a century, the latter coming against England.
She also took 60 wickets in her Test career, including five five-wicket hauls. Her best bowling figures in an innings were 6 for 99 against Australia on their home soil. Kulkarni’s best match figures in Test cricket came against the West Indies, where she took 7 for 57.
Shubhangi Kulkarni also had a respectable One-Day International career. She took 38 wickets, including two four-wicket hauls. Her best ODI figures were 4 for 27 against New Zealand. The lower-middle order all-rounder also scored 347 runs during her 12-year ODI career.
She represented India in the 1978 Women’s Cricket World Cup, playing in two matches during the tournament. She also took part in the 1982 edition, where she appeared in 12 matches. She was the third highest wicket-taker in the 1982 World Cup, picking up 20 wickets. In those 12 matches, she also scored 120 runs.
Kulkarni captained India in three Test matches, one against England and two against Australia, as well as in one ODI match against England.
She holds the record for the most five-wicket hauls in a Test career with five such hauls. Additionally, she holds the record for the most wickets taken in a Test series, taking 23 wickets in five matches during the series against the West Indies.
After retiring from Test cricket in 1991, she transitioned into cricket administration and served as the secretary of the Women’s Cricket Association of India (WCAI) when it merged with the BCCI in 2006. She is currently a member of the ICC Women’s Cricket Committee, representing the Asian Cricket Council. She is also a lifetime member of the MCC and a recipient of the Arjuna Award.
Receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Sports Journalists Association of Mumbai is a profound honour for any athlete, and for Shubhangi Kulkarni, it is a fitting recognition of her immense contributions to Indian cricket. This award not only celebrates her dedication, skill, and leadership on the field but also acknowledges her role in shaping and advancing women’s cricket in India.
Kulkarni’s achievements have inspired countless young athletes, and this prestigious honour highlights the growing respect and support for women’s cricket from the media and sports community. It stands as a testament to her lasting impact on the game and serves to motivate future generations to strive for excellence.
