Bollywood inspiration: Indian cricketer Kiran Navgire has seen 'Bhaag Milkha Bhaag' 100 times

Right-handed batter Kiran Prabhu Navgire hopes to follow in MS Dhoni's footsteps to lift the World Cup for India. (Image [cropped] via Instagram/Kiran Navgire)

Kiran Navgire may not have made the India squad for the upcoming ICC Women's T20 World Cup, but she is hard at work to improve her game. The Pune-based India batter has just completed a six-day, off-season camp in Lucknow with her Women's Premier League (WPL) team UP Warriorz.

Apart from batting fitness and fielding practice, the camp focused on the bonding between players, and how to win more matches. UP Warriorz finished fourth out of five teams in WPL 2024, down from No. 3 in the inaugural edition of the Indian women's cricket league in 2023. Navgire, though, improved her highest score from 53 in WPL 2023 to 57 against Harmanpreet Kaur's Mumbai Indians in the 2024 edition.

"I like to hit big, and for that I do weight-training to generate power. I've also started to do agility training which is important for fielding," Navgire said, explaining her fitness routine over a video call.

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Navgire, who turned 30 on September 18, added that she deadlifts 100-110 kilos, does leg presses with 120kg weights, squats with 90-95kg weights, walking lunges with 60-70kg, and chest presses with 70-75kg weights.

In addition to physical training since WPL 2024 ended, Navgire has also worked with sports psychologist Mughda Bavare on the mental health aspects of how to approach her batting and what to do when she gets "a good start" but is unable "to finish well".

Known for her six-hitting prowess, Navgire said her biggest takeaways from talking to the psychologist were that "every ball need not go for a six, that a run taken for strike change can be good too, and that it's okay to take some time to settle in".

Way to take the pressure off!

What else does Navgire do to relax in-between matches and match practice?

"I must have seen 'Bhaag Milkha Bhaag' a hundred times", and the title song plays on loop every chance I get, Navgire said in Hindi.

'Bhaag Milkha Bhaag' is of course the 2013 biopic on Indian athlete Milkha Singh who represented India at the Olympics in 1956, 1960 and 1964; the Asian Games in 1958 and 1962; and the Commonwealth Games. Actor Farhan Akhtar played the Flying Sikh in the film directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra and written by Prasoon Joshi.

Asked who she wanted cast as Kiran Navgire in a biopic about her journey from Mire village in Pune to batting in the Women's Premier League and for India, Navgire said there's so much more to accomplish before she can think of a biopic on her life - including following in her role model MS Dhoni's footsteps to lift the World Cup for India. For now, she's happy to take inspiration from the lyrics to Bhaag Milkha every chance she gets:

"Teri nus nus lohaakar

Tu hai aag, Milkha"

(With iron in your veins, you're on fire, Milkha)

High praise, indeed, for an 11-year-old film that continues to inspire a Team India cricketer!