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At the start of 2026, while India's star cricketers lit up the WPL, Punjab's Akshita Bhagat was chasing something different: pace. The WPL was conducting Speed Queen, a talent hunt to unearth the fastest bowlers in India. The competition ran across 23 cities in U-19 and U-23 categories, with the finale in Mumbai. Bhagat won the U-23 event with a top speed of 105kph. Among those who handed her the winner's cheque was Amol Muzumdar, India women's head coach. Until then, the 19-year-old had played just one List A game and two T20s for Punjab, with modest returns. She saw herself primarily as a batting allrounder, and perhaps still does. But the Speed Queen win changed the trajectory of her career. Last month, she was picked in the India A squads for three one-dayers and a four-day match against a touring Australia A side, primarily for her bowling. Bhagat was born in Ropar and grew up in Kurali, a small town in Mohali district. Like countless girls across India, her earliest cricket matches were played in the street, alongside boys. "One day, I noticed that one of the guys who was a regular didn't show up for three-four days," she tells Cricinfo. "When I asked him where he was, he said he had joined a cricket academy and would start playing professionally." Bhagat was about 13 and the idea took root quickly. "I told my parents I too wanted to join the academy. They dilly-dallied initially but I was adamant." Eventually, her father took her to the Chakwal School Cricket Academy, where she began training under Narinder Rathore. "Initially, I used to just bat," Bhagat says. "After some time, I told sir I would like to show him how I bowled." Rathore immediately realised she had the raw material to be a good fast bowler as well. From then on, Bhagat started focusing on both batting and bowling. Within three years, she was in the Punjab U-19 side; the following season, 2024-25, she made her List A debut. Opportunities, though, were few and far between, until Speed Queen proved to be, as Bhagat says, "life-changing". In August, she was selected for a fast-bowlers' camp at the BCCI's Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru, under India women's bowling coach Aavishkar Salvi. Earlier this month, she attended another camp at the CoE. "The biggest benefit of these camps is that you have highly skilled coaching available to you," she says. "I have been working a lot on my basics, my line and length. Apart from that, I have also been working on the tactical side and the field placements." She knows skills alone are not enough. To be a successful fast bowler, she will have to remain fit as well. For that, she has been training under Raj Yadav, the former strength and conditioning coach for Punjab and Chandigarh's women's teams. "I have worked a lot on my core and unilateral movements," she says, "which has helped me with my bowling speed." Bhagat's bowling idols are Ellyse Perry and Dale Steyn. No wonder her stock ball is an outswinger to the right-hand batter. With the bat, she looks up to Harmanpreet Kaur, and for now, batting is probably her stronger suit. In the recent Queens Cup, Punjab's state T20 league, she finished fourth on the run charts with a tally of 137 from five innings. Her strike rate of 153.93 was the best in the competition and her six sixes were the joint-second most. With the ball, she managed only two wickets in 17 overs at an economy rate of 7.35. "Six-hitting is something I have really worked on with her," Rathore says. "I would make her hit 40-50 sixes every day because I feel the batting has totally changed in the last few years." When asked about her bowling and whether 105kph is a bit on the slower side - the fastest bowlers in the world average around 115kph - Rathore says: "That measurement is with the handheld speed gun, which is typically 5kph less than the actual speed from the hand. So she is already bowling around 110kph, and it would increase further as she develops more strength." Bhagat is a work in progress, especially with the ball, and the Australia A series, which begins on Saturday, should give a clearer picture of how she handles bigger challenges.