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Anju Gurung (born 10 April 1994) is a Bhutanese cricketer who plays for the national women's cricket team as a pace bowler. She is currently the vice-captain of the team, and a household name in Bhutan.

Early life and career

Gurung hails from Gelephu, a small Bhutanese town on the border with India. She first played cricket at the age of 13. One day, her primary school sports teacher announced that a new game named cricket was going to be introduced. Gurung had not even heard of the game, but thought it had an interesting name, and therefore signed up for it. Soon afterwards, she began training and enrolled in training camps.

Since starting to play the game, Gurung has been surrounded by balls and bats, and has never looked back. She has said that she is still involved in the game because her mother has always supported her. In particular, her mother never differentiated between Gurung and her brothers.

However, Gurung also needed to overcome quite a few challenges, and especially the lack of facilities in Bhutan for any form of sports training. She just had to make do with the limited resources available to her.

Domestic career

At the domestic level, Gurung plays only against men's teams. Her playing role is as a left arm inswing pace bowler.

International career

Since women's cricket was first played in Bhutan, Gurung has been part of the women's national team. She was one of the players who turned out for Bhutan women's international cricketing debut, against Qatar at the ACC Women's Twenty20 Championship in Malaysia on 3 July 2009.

Nearly five years later, on 17 February 2014, in Bhutan's final match of the 2014 ACC Women's Premier tournament, held in Thailand in a 40 overs a side format, Gurung took 2/13 to help her team beat Iran in the play-off for fifth and sixth places.

In March 2018, Gurung had further success during the ASEAN Women's T20 Open Tournament, held in Thailand. On 8 March 2018, Bhutan batted first against Indonesia and scored only 48 runs, but Gurung then took 4/17, including by bowling both of Indonesia's opening pair of Yulia Anggraeni and Puji Haryanti, each for a duck, before Indonesia won the match by four wickets.

Four days later, on 12 March 2018, Bhutan again batted first, against Thailand, and scored only 16 runs. Gurung then opened the bowling for Bhutan, and bowled both of Thailand's opening pair, Natthakan Chantam and Naruemol Chaiwai, again each for a duck. Thailand later won the match by 8 wickets, with Gurung's final figures being 2/4.

On 13 January 2019, Gurung made her WT20I debut for Bhutan against Hong Kong at the Terdthai Cricket Ground, Bangkok, in a Group B match of the Thailand Women's T20 Smash, which was also Bhutan's first ever WT20I. Her best performance in that tournament was 2/16 against Indonesia.

Gurung's and Bhutan's next WT20I matches were at the ICC Women's T20 World Cup Asia Qualifier in Dubai in November 2021. In that tournament, Gurung's best figures were against Hong Kong; she took 3/10, including the wicket of Hong Kong skipper Kary Chan. Arguably the tournament's leading bowler, she ended up with a total of 7 wickets in her 5 games, at an economy rate of 4.05.

In March 2022, Gurung, by then the vice-captain of the Bhutanese team, was recruited to play in the 2022 FairBreak Invitational T20 tournament in Dubai in May 2022. She had been one of five Bhutanese players nominated by Cricket Bhutan's CEO as a potential recruit, after he had earlier contacted FairBreak's managing director to enquire about the tournament. On 19 April 2022, Gurung departed from Bhutan to undergo a 10-day training session with cricketers from Thailand, under the auspices of the Cricket Association of Thailand.

During the tournament, Gurung played for the Falcons team. She emerged as one of the stars. Her very first wicket in the tournament was of English batter Sophia Dunkley, who was threatening to take a game away from the Falcons. Later, in one of the semi-finals, against Spirit, she played a crucial role in the Falcons' victory, by dismissing both of Spirit's opening batters, Sarah Bryce and Natthakan Chantam. The Falcons eventually finished as runners-up to the Tornadoes, and she was named in the team of the tournament.

Playing style

Guring is said to have "... a smooth run-up, rhythmical action, and an exaggerated leap before she delivers the ball." As well as being accurate, she is also claimed to have "... the rare ability to bring the ball back into right-handers." She uses that ability to compensate for her shortness of stature. She also has what she describes as "... a good yorker along with a deceptive slower ball ..."

Off the field

Gurung is a household name in Bhutan. Many young, aspiring female cricketers look up to her. In a profile published in February 2022, Bhutan Cricket claimed that "ith her big nerd glasses, unkempt blonde hair, and bright smile, looks more like a pop star ..."

See also

• List of Bhutan women Twenty20 International cricketers

References

1. ^ "The Crafty Left Arm Pacer - Bhutan Cricket Council Board". Bhutan Cricket. 27 February 2022. Archived from the original on 9 March 2022. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
2. ^ Kumar, Rupesh (15 May 2022). "Never thought I would get the opportunity to rub shoulders with world's best: Anju Gurung". Women's CricZone. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
3. ^ Moonda, Firdose (6 April 2022). "First-of-its-kind women's T20 event to bring together players from 35 countries". ESPN.com. Archived from the original on 21 April 2022. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
4. ^ "Anju Gurung". ESPNcricinfo. ESPN Inc. Archived from the original on 10 April 2022. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
5. ^ Namgay, Thinley (20 April 2022). "Anju Gurung leaves for UAE". Kuensel Online. Archived from the original on 21 April 2022. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
6. "Other women's matches played by Bhutan Women". Archived from the original on 28 March 2016. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
7. "Bhutan Women v Qatar Women". cricketarchive.com. 3 July 2009. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
8. "Bhutan's first win at ACC women's cricket in Thailand – Bhutan News Network". Bhutan News Network. 18 February 2014. Archived from the original on 27 February 2014. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
9. "Bhutan overcome Iran to finish fifth". Asian Cricket Council. 17 February 2014. Archived from the original on 7 August 2020. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
10. "Full Scorecard of Bhutan Women vs Indonesia Wm 6th Match 2017/18 - Score Report". ESPNcricinfo. Archived from the original on 21 April 2022. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
11. "Full Scorecard of Bhutan Women vs Thai Women 13th Match 2017/18 - Score Report". ESPNcricinfo. Archived from the original on 21 April 2022. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
12. "All-round records | Women's Twenty20 Internationals | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPNcricinfo.com - Anju Gurung". ESPNcricinfo. Archived from the original on 21 April 2022. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
13. "Full Scorecard of HKG Women vs Bhutan Women 11th Match 2021/22 - Score Report". ESPNcricinfo. Archived from the original on 18 April 2022. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
14. ^ Dansinghani, Jay (2 May 2022). "5 Associates to Watch at the FairBreak Invitational". All Over Cricket. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
15. Namgay, Thinley (29 March 2022). "Anju Gurung to feature in T20 tournament in the UAE". Kuensel Online. Archived from the original on 6 April 2022. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
16. ^ Dendup, Tshering (16 May 2022). "Anju Gurung among the best 11 players despite losing FairBreak Invitational Women's T20 cricket tournament". BBS. Retrieved 17 May 2022.
17. Radley, Paul (15 May 2022). "From Bhutan to a final in Dubai via the beach, Anju Gurung is living the dream". The National (Abu Dhabi). Retrieved 17 May 2022.
18. FairBreak (16 May 2022). "Your #FBI22 team of the tournament" (Tweet). Retrieved 17 May 2022 – via Twitter.

External links

• Anju Gurung at ESPNcricinfo

• Asia
• Biography
• Cricket
• Sports

• 1994 births
• Living people
• Bhutanese women cricketers
• Bhutan women Twenty20 International cricketers
• Bhutanese people of Nepalese descent