Cricketer Mahika Gaur made history on Friday, September 1 as she made her second international debut for the English team. As England rook on Sri Lanka in a T20I, Mahika found that her name was also there with the names of the XI playing on the field.Gaur, a resident of Dubai had previously made her first international debut just at the age of 12 for the United Arab Emirates (UAE).The 18-year-old left-arm seamer bagged her maiden international wicket, getting the better of Chamari Athapaththu, in a rain-affected win over Sri Lanka on Thursday night in the match taking place south of the UK in Hove.Since England went to batting first, Gauri had to wait for a while to showcase her left-arm bowling talent. England went on to post 186 runs on the board, with Danielle Wyatt and Alice Capsey being the leading run-scorers. However, due to rain, the match was put to a halt, with Sri Lanka scoring 55/3 in 6 overs. Later England was declared winners by 12 runs, via DLS method.First wicket in international cricket 👆Quite an evening for Mahika Gaur 🙌#EnglandCricket #ENGvSL pic.twitter.com/RxBDPMisPH— England Cricket (@englandcricket) August 31, 2023The Captain of the English team Heather Knight very pleased with Mahikas performance and was full of praise for her. “Mahika was brilliant on her debut,” said Knight. “She had to move to death bowling after the rain and she executed her plan perfectly. At that height she gets real late swing which is quite a weapon, “she said.“She is a good bowler, something that is a bit different for us,” added Heather.Who is Mahika GaurMahika was born in the south of England. She decided to become a professional cricketer when she attended an IPL match in Jaipur in 2011. It was the late Australian spinner Shane Warne, who starred in the Royals match against the Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals).In an interview from April Gaur mentioned how her father was surprised at her handling the ball so well with her hands as a child.“I was practicing bowling in the garden. I think my dad was just surprised that I could roll my arm fully without chucking the ball. He was a left-arm bowler in college but never got to do his cricket thing. But when he saw that I have potential, hes always been on board,” Gaur said.After Mahika and her family moved to Dubai, she was enrolled in the ICC Academy and met the future UAE skipper Chaya Mughal. Remembering her first time in ICC she said “ The first time I went into ICC [Academy], she was training indoors and the coach over there, Adnan [Sabri] sir said that I can bowl to her.”She even went on to say that she was star-struck to be present there and Mughal was contentiously defending all her tosses. Since her debut at the age of 12, Mahika has played a total of 20 T20Is, claiming a total of 10 wickets. with a best of 3 for 21.
