Born on 9th September 1985 in Bangalore, Karnataka is former Test, ODI and T20 International player for India, Karuna Vijaykumar Jain.
A top order right-hand batter and wicket keeper, Karu made her international debut in an ODI against the West Indies in March 2004. It was the fourth ODI of the series and she was replacing wicket keeper Anju Jain. She scored 68 not out opening the batting and with the gloves she stumped one of the West Indies players. It was a fine debut and set her on course for a wonderful career.
Karu played in 44 ODIs over the next decade performing with both bat and gloves. She scored 987 runs at 29.02 with a top score of 103 against England at Kolkata in 2005, plus nine half centuries. Behind the stumps she took 32 catches and 26 stumpings for a total of 58 stumpings which is third best all time for India.
In 2005/06 Karu made her Test debut, against England at Delhi. She opened the batting and made 40 and 35, complimenting that with 3 catches and a stumping. She would play five Test matches in total, finishing with a batting average of 21.66. As a keeper she took 14 catches and 3 stumpings giving her 17 dismissals, second best of all time behind Anju Jain (23).
Only nine matches for India in Karu’s T20I career, not really performing with the bat but 4 catches and 8 stumpings with the gloves.
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