Tanuja Kanwar

Some Lesser Known Facts About Tanuja Kanwar

• Tanuja Kanwar is an Indian cricketer. She is an all-rounder and played for Gujarat Giants in the inaugural season of the Women’s Premier League.

• In an interview, she revealed that she was more interested in watching South Indian films than Bollywood films. ^[2]Female Cricket

• She was a sports enthusiast from an early age. She used to participate in district-level badminton and volleyball competitions before she became a professional cricketer.

• She started playing gully cricket with the boys in her locality and continued playing till 2011; after noticing her talent her father enrolled her at the HCC Academy in Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh. Initially, Tanuja played as a medium pacer, and later she changed her style to spin bowling at the suggestion of her coach, Pawan Sen, at the HCC academy.

• In 2011, she made her debut for the Himachal Pradesh U-19 Women’s team. Tanuja enjoyed a stellar season with the U-19 team and was promoted to the senior team the following year. In an interview, she pointed out that support from the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) was instrumental in building her career.

  

• Tanuja became a key player for the senior team and the 2016-2017 Senior Women’s One Day League turned out to be a breakthrough for her career; Himachal Pradesh Women’s victory against Uttar Pradesh Women in the Plate Group final ensured their promotion to the Elite Group in the following season.

• She topped the bowling rankings of the tournament with 17 wickets from four matches including a four-wicket haul in the semi-final and a three-wicket haul against Uttar Pradesh Women in the final.

• In 2017, she was part of the Himachal Pradesh U-23 Women’s squad, which won the Under-23 North Zone Women’s Cricket Championship. Tanuja took a seven-wicket haul against Jammu & Kashmir in the final of the tournament and they won by 266 runs. She finished the tournament as the top wicket-taker with 15 wickets from four matches.

• In November 2017, she was named vice-captain of the Himachal Pradesh Women.

• Following a string of positive performances with the Himachal Pradesh Women she was included in the India A team for the Bangladesh Women’s A tour of India.

  

• In March 2018, Tanuja took one wicket from two matches for India A Women against the Australia Women, during their tour of India.

• In 2018, she was included in the India Women’s Red squad for the 2018-2019 Women’s Senior T20 Challenger Trophy. India Blue defeated India Red in the final by 4 runs.

• In 2019, she was named to the India Blue squad for the 2018-2019 Senior Women’s Challenger Trophy; she took five wickets from three matches. In the final of the tournament, they lost to India Red by 15 runs.

• She was part of the Smriti Mandhana-led India B, which reached the final of the 2019-2020 Women’s Senior T20 Challenger Trophy.

• On 18 February 2019, she was named to the starting eleven of the Indian Board President’s Women’s XI and scored 11 runs and took two wickets against the England Women, during their tour of India.

• In October 2019, she was selected for the India Women’s Emerging team to participate in the inaugural Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Emerging Teams Asia Cup held in Sri Lanka.

• On 29 October 2019, Tanuja Kanwar took four wickets in the final as India Women’s Emerging team defeated the Sri Lanka Women’s Emerging team in the final by 14 runs. She finished the tournament as the second-highest wicket-taker behind her compatriot Devika Vaidya with 7 wickets including a three-wicket haul against the Sri Lanka Women’s Emerging team in their group stage match.

• In 2019, she was called up for the India A Women’s tour of Australia and took four wickets from three ODI matches; she also played in the opening T20 match of the series.

• In 2020, she was selected to the India Women’s B team for the T20 Quadrangular Series held in India. Tanuja took three wickets in the final against the Bangladesh Women’s team, however, India Women’s B team was defeated by 14 runs. She took eight wickets from four matches in the tournament.

• In 2021, she was named to the Himachal Pradesh Women’s team for the BCCI Women’s Senior One-Day Trophy. On 21 March 2021, she took six wickets from ten overs against the Meghalaya Women’s team at an economy of 1.00; Himachal Pradesh Women won the match in four overs.

• She was part of the Railways Women’s squad, which won the 2021-2022 Women’s Senior One-Day Trophy and the 2021-2022 Women’s Senior T20 Trophy.
  

  

  

• On 7 February 2023, Tanuja was named Player of the Match in the final against Karnataka in the 2022-2023 Women’s Senior One-Day Trophy; she took three wickets in the final and was instrumental in Railways Women’s victory.

  

• She was part of the Central Zone Women’s team, which won the inaugural edition (2022-2023) of the Women’s Senior Inter Zonal T20 Cup.

  

• In 2023, she became the most expensive uncapped domestic player in the inaugural season of the Women’s Premier League when Gujarat Giants signed her for Rs. 50 Lakhs.

• Royal Challengers Bangalore showed keen interest in landing her and went up to Rs. 45 Lakhs from her base price of Rs. 10 Lakhs; they pulled out of the bidding after Gujarat Giants raised their offer to Rs. 50 Lakhs.

• On 4 March 2023, she was included in the starting eleven for the opening match against Mumbai Indians; Tanuja Kanwar registered the first-ever wicket in the Women’s Premier League when she dismissed Yastika Bhatia. Tanuja was dismissed on a duck after Nat Sciver-Brunt caught her catch.

• On 11 March 2023, she scored 13 runs from 19 balls against the Delhi Capitals Women and was caught out by Jemimah Rodrigues.

• On 14 March 2023, during Gujarat Giants’ 55 runs defeat against the Mumbai Indians Women Tanuja took a wicket at an economy of 8.00; she failed to score any runs and was dismissed by Hayley Matthews.

• In an interview, she revealed that Sushma Verma was one of the senior players who supported and guided her when she started playing for the India A team.