The inevitable Niki P

Niki Prasad with the ICC Women's U-19 T20 World Cup Trophy (ICC/ Getty Images)

It’s amazing what a single innings can do for the confidence of a player. How it can flick a switch and open their eyes to what is possible. 

For Niki Prasad, that came at the start of the year when she helped Delhi Capitals nearly pull off a heist against Gujarat Giants.

Across the 8 years I’ve watched Niki play, I don’t think there has ever been any doubt around her potential.

Even in her early teens she showed the ability to clear the field and score quickly. For someone so tiny, she was surprisingly powerful and made batting look easy - her movements flowed, unhindered by thought. The high back lift, the fast hands, the wrist snap on contact, and the flowing follow through were all trademarks.

With the ball, once she found a groove, she was a machine - accurate to a fault. And in the field, she was dynamite. She moved quickly, with power and assurance; her reflexes sharper than most.

She stood out from the very start, did Niki P - one of those players you sort of knew was built for bigger things.

In India, with high potential comes incredibly high (and unrealistic) expectation and pressure. It is a pressure and expectation that the players are very aware (and often reminded) of.

But the truth is, even prodigies need space to grow, and learn, and fail, and fall before they can truly fly. And such was the case with Niki too.

Captain Niki Prasad with the U-19 T20 Challenger trophy (Niki Prasad)

In 2022, with the inaugural ICC Women’s U-19 T20 World Cup around the corner, I saw a version of Niki that surprised me.

Tight. Robotic. Defensive. And clearly scared of getting out.

She barely hit the ball in the air and almost always took the safe option. It was like she was being suffocated - the flame inside barely flickering.

With the ball and in the field though, you could still see the spark. She was a cut above the competition in the way she moved, anticipated and created chances from seemingly nothing. She had the ball on a string and almost completely shut down scoring at her end.

She was captain of Karnataka U-19, the winning team in the U19 Challenger Trophy, India B in the Quadrangular tournament, and despite not being close to her best, everything pointed to her making the India U-19 World Cup squad. Purely as a bowler, she probably could have. But the selectors had other ideas.

Over the next few months a 17-year-old Niki dealt with the bitter disappointment of missing out. There were, no doubt, moments in which she wanted to walk away and try her hand at something else, but cricket kept calling. And after some time away, she dove straight back into getting better, her sights now set on the 2025 U-19 World Cup.

What happened over the next 18-24 months was the meticulous breaking down of the conservative mindset she had built around her game: boundaries became her calling card, her trademark fast hands shone through, and the power was on display again.

Niki Prasad at a Delhi Capitals training session (Delhi Capitals/ Instagram)

Through the tournaments played in lead up to the World Cup, there was no doubt that Niki Prasad would be one of India’s premeir batters. While she may not have gotten a chance to show those skills through the tournament, finding her mojo again meant the WPL had come calling.

Once again, the expectation around Niki rose. Since she had made the step up, at domestic level, the pressure to perform had quadrupled.

At 19, she was captain of the Senior state team and suddenly expected to “bat through” and win games for Karnataka.

Once again, the tightness and defensive play made their way into her system. But this time, you could see that she was trying to fight it. Her instinct was saying boundary, but her conscious mind was fighting the urge. She was supposed to be “responsible” and shutting down her power game was the only way she knew how.

But just when it look like she was slipping down that all familiar dark road, Niki Prasad played a knock that turned her career (and mindset) around.

In the 2026 WPL against the Gujarat Giants, with Delhi Capitals needing an improbable 74 in 39 balls with just 4 wickets left, Niki pummelled 47 off just 24 balls against an attack with over 400 T20Is to their credit.

She shared a 70-run stand with Sneh Rana to take DC to the brink of an unbelievable win, taking apart the likes of Sophie Devine and Ashleigh Gardner along the way. While the loss was, no doubt, hearbreaking, the fire I saw that innings ignite in Niki was worth all of it.

Niki Prasad launches into one during the WPL (WPL/ Instagram)

With her back to the wall, Niki Prasad showed the world, and more importantly, reminded herself of what she was capable… That she did, in fact, have the ability to score quickly and freely without being “irresponsible”; that she could attack and search for the boundary without it being “risky”; that she didn’t have to (and, in fact, shouldn’t) fight her instinct if she wanted to be a consistent match winner.

Since then, Niki has gone from strength to strength - over 250 runs at a strike rate of 125 in the Senior-One-Day Trophy for Karnataka, captain of South Zone in the Senior Multi-Day Trophy, India A debut in England, Player of the Tournament in the Maharani Trophy, maiden T20, List-A and First-Class half centuries for India A against Australia A, and now, a senior India call up!

Neither the rise, nor the pace of it are a surprise to those who know her. Because, from the very beginning, when you watched Niki Prasad, you could tell she was special - not just because of her skill, but also the deep hunger and desire to be the best she could.

She always had the guts, the game and the grit. What she’s found now is truck loads of belief and a deeper understanding of her methods to go with it.

And THAT is why Niki Prasad was, is, and always will be, INEVITABLE.