How Abhinav Mukund's Father Helped a Taxi Driver's Daughter to Flourish and Bag a WPL Contract

The Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2024 players’ auction saw a new chapter getting added to the history when Tamil Nadu’s Keerthana Balakrishnan bagged a contract from Mumbai Indians (MI). The uncapped all-rounder was bought by the defending champions for her base price, INR 10 lakh, but more importantly, she became the first female cricketer from the state to be playing in the WPL. She was one of the five players bought by MI, alongside former South African bowler Shabnim Ismail, Amandeep Kaur, S Sajana and Fatima Jaffer.

Veteran wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik was super joyous over Keerthana’s success and took to microblogging site X to share her story. Daughter of a taxi driver, Keerthana has been training under the watchful eyes of TS Mukund, father of Indian cricketer Abhinav Mukund.

As stated by Karthik, coach Mukund continues to train underprivileged youngsters for free and even provides them with cricketing gears. A leg-spinner by profession, he has even helped several players in the United Kingdom and Australia to flourish.

“There are many heroes in the cricketing world , not all wear capes though.  Here is one that not many have heard of T.S.MUKUND, Father of Indian cricketer ABHINAV MUKUND,” Karthik wrote.

“He doesn’t charge a penny from a lot of cricketers from the lower strata of society and gives them coaching,  guidance and cricket equipment too and most importantly, gives them the belief to live life confidently . Another eg is BALU SURYA, who plays in TNPL.

“A leg spinner by profession and has produced many a cricketer for the junior age categories, associate nation teams and coaches players in UK, AUSTRALIA, USA etc

“Here is one of his players getting selected and representing @mipaltan in the @wplt20. Keerthana’s father is a call taxi driver. Iam so happy to see such cricketers getting the recognition and opportunity to play in such a high quality tournament.

“May the @wplt20 keep producing many such stars and give opportunities to plenty of girls and keep producing superstars.”

“Thanks T S MUKUND sir for being the silent strength that many a player needs,” Karthik concluded.

About Keerthana Balakrishnan

Keerthana has so far played for Tamil Nadu Women, Indian Green Women, South Zone Women and Orange Dragons Women and with some of the big names of Indian cricket.

A couple of years ago, she scored 102 runs in the Freyer Cup, averaging 34, and picked up four wickets. She also has 3 three-wicket hauls for Tamil Nadu Women in One-Day tournaments.