Diviya G K

In 2006, the SCA put together its first women's national team. Diviya tried out for the team, and was selected.[5][7] She was also appointed as captain of the team for its first ever match, against Malaysia,[2] at the Mutiara Rini Oval in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, on 29 April 2007.[12] Malaysia won the match by 58 runs.[12]

Diviya then led Singapore in the 2007 ACC Women's Championship, a 30-over a side tournament also held in Johor Bahru, in July 2007. After losses to China by 38 runs, and Bangladesh by 10 wickets, the Singapore team finished on a high note by defeating the United Arab Emirates by six wickets, with Diviya's 31 runs being the top score for the match.[13][14]

Two years later, at the ACC Women's Twenty20 Championship held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in July 2009, Singapore started slowly but met with more success. In the team's third match, a 25 run victory over Iran, Diviya took 4–10, but was pipped by her teammate Annapurna Mukherjee for the player of the match award. Two days later, Singapore beat Qatar by 23 runs, and Diviya was player of the match with 27 and 3–8. Following a third victory in a row, against Bhutan by 34 runs, Diviya took 2–11 in Singapore's fourth consecutive win, by six wickets against Malaysia in the playoff for 5th place.[15]

Singapore's progress through the next ACC Women's Twenty20 Championship, held in Kuwait in February 2011, was somewhat the opposite. The team won its first two matches, against Bhutan and Oman, respectively, in each case by 10 wickets. In the first match, Diviya took 4-12 and was named as player of the match. However, the team then lost its next two matches, against Malaysia and China, by large margins, and also lost playoff against Malaysia for 5th place by just one wicket.[16]

In January 2013, Diviya, but not Singapore, had a more successful ACC Women's Championship, which that year was played in a 25-overs per side format in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Singapore lost its first two matches, against Kuwait and China, respectively, by big margins. It then won its third match, against Qatar, by 16 runs, with Diviya making 52 and winning the player of the match award.[17] In Singapore's next match, against Thailand, Diviya again top scored for her team, with 29 runs, but Thailand won by 129 runs thanks to a captain's knock by Sornnarin Tippoch, who scored the first ever century in the ACC Women's Championship.[18] Singapore then lost to Iran before winning the playoff for 9th and 10th places against the United Arab Emirates.[17]

Diviya ended the tournament as Singapore's top scorer (136 runs in six innings, with a highest of 52) and wicket-taker (six wickets at an average of 15 with a best of 2-21).[4]

For the annual Saudari Cup series between Singapore and Malaysia at the Kallang Ground in Singapore in August 2015, Singapore was captained by Ankita Ved.[19][20] Singapore lost the first two matches, but won the third,[19] in which Diviya top scored with 58 in 44 balls, and also took 2 for 13.[21] Ahead of the 2016 Saudari Cup, held at Johor Cricket Academy Oval, Malaysia, Diviya reassumed the captaincy. She then led the team to victory in the first match,[22] but otherwise had a quiet series, which Malaysia won 2–1.[23]

In August 2017, Diviya again captained Singapore in the Women's twenty20 tournament at the 2017 Southeast Asian Games in Selangor, Malaysia. Although she achieved her team's best bowling figures of 1/23 in Singapore's match against Malaysia,[24] and top scored for the team with 37 in 39 balls against Indonesia,[25] the team lost all of its matches and finished last in the tournament.[26]

The following year, on 9 August 2018, Diviya made her Women's Twenty20 International (WT20I) debut for, and also captained, Singapore against Malaysia at the Selangor Turf Club, Kuala Lumpur, in the first match of the 2018 Saudari Cup.[27][28] The match was also Singapore's first ever WT20I.[29] During the six-match tournament, Diviya made the most runs and took the most wickets for Singapore, and also topped both the batting and bowling averages for the team.[30][31] In the third match, she took 2/7 in Singapore's maiden WT20I victory, by 29 runs.[32] In the fourth match, she top scored for both the match and the series with 77*, and was named player of the match for leading Singapore to the team's second WT20I victory, this time by 5 wickets.[33] In the fifth match, she took 3/8,[34] her best bowling figures for the series,[31] which Malaysia ultimately won by four matches to two.[35]

Singapore's and Diviya's next WT20I fixtures were during a three-match tour by Myanmar in April 2019.[36] Ahead of that series, Diviya relinquished the captaincy to Shafina Mahesh.[37] Diviya's best performance in the series was 2/15 in the second match;[38] Myanmar won the series 2–0 when the third match was abandoned without a ball being bowled.[39]

Four months later, in August 2019, Singapore hosted Malaysia for that year's Saudari Cup. In the three match series, Diviya starred with 45*, 31* and 35,[27] and once again topped her team's batting aggregates and averages,[40] but Malaysia won the series 3–0.[41]

In 2018, Diviya played for a FairBreak XI captained by Suzie Bates, in a special T20 exhibition match against a Sir Paul Getty XI at Wormsley Cricket Ground in Buckinghamshire, England.[6][42] She finished the match with two wickets.[7] In February 2020, she was a member of a FairBreak XI captained by Sana Mir, in a similar exhibition match against a Bradman Women's XI at the Bradman Oval in Bowral, New South Wales.[43] In May 2022, she played four matches for the Spirit team in the 2022 FairBreak Invitational T20 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.[1]

Diviya's career in business began in November 2016, when she started a three-month stint as a marketing executive at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. She then spent just over a year as the country manager of Muraspec, a designer, manufacturer and distributor of wall coverings and interior surfaces, followed by nearly two years at 21North, a supplier of aftermarket services in the automotive industry.[44]

Meanwhile, in July 2017, she teamed up with Singapore men's cricket team captain Chetan Suryawanshi and Indian cricketers MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma to establish SportsKingdom International, an operator of cricket academies in Singapore and India,[7][44][45] and a booking platform for coaching, facilities, equipment and expert advice.[7] From June 2017 to November 2019, she was the chief operating officer of the company.[44]

In June 2019, Diviya became a regional business consultant for AXS, an international business consulting firm. Since August 2021, she has been an account manager at Gartner, a technological research and consulting business.[44]

Diviya's Singapore friends call her 'Div'. Most of her mates in Australia call her 'GK'.[2]