There’s finally some good news for the poorer cousins of men’s cricket in India. The skipper of the Indian women’s team, Jhulan Goswami, has been roped in by sports apparel major Nike.

The lanky speedster, who was till recently the fastest bowler in the world in the women’s circuit, has been signed up by the world-renowned sports brand on a three-year contract.

Jhulan is currently the captain of the Indian team, and like it has always been in Indian cricket, the women’s circuit has barely seen instances of big brands offering lucrative sponsorships, be it on the players’ front or for the senior Indian team as a whole.

The Nike deal for Jhulan has come in the backdrop of reports of swelling fortunes and whopping tie-ups with her counterpart in the more popular men’s circuit, skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

However, the contract amount that the sports goods major is offering 25-year-old Jhulan is quite less compared to the high-profile deals associated with the likes of Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid.

Jhulan meanwhile will be caught up in the coming weeks with the busy domestic schedule, and the Indian eves’ next international assignment is expected to come up late this winter.

Interestingly, even as the Indian women’s team captain has struck a deal with Nike, the sports goods company’s term with the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) has been terminated this season by the state body.

After a couple of seasons with Nike, the CAB has decided not to renew its contract, and has instead switched over to its rival Reebok. The deal spans providing the senior Bengal team apparel for first-class matches.

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