India's Kanika Ahuja is an all-around player who participated for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Women's Premier League's debut season.
The all-rounder contributed to Royal Challengers Bangalore's (RCB) maiden victory in the WPL and is ruling the headlines as the match winner. Ahuja's mother, Seema Rani, is currently battling cancer and going through chemotherapy.
Ahuja was a game-changer and smashed 46 off 30 balls, which is the highest score gotten by an uncapped player in the WPL so far. The all-rounder proceeded to add 60 runs and helped RCB win the game.
The cricket player dedicated the win to her ailing mother, who is battling both bone and breast cancer. After the game, Ahuja told reporters, "My family didn't even know that there is cricket for girls... My father told me to focus on studies... but my mother would say go and play."
Kanika Ahuja
Kanika Ahuja was a national-level skater before becoming a professional cricketer and initially wasn't as interested in cricket. She admitted in an interview that when she had to pick between skating and cricket, she felt a little lost.
Ahuja began her cricket training at the Patiala, Punjab-based Cricket Hub facility. She used to be accompanied by her grandfather, Satpal, to her training sessions at the Dhurve Pandove Stadium in Patiala.
Kanika Ahuja established herself as a regular member of her school's teams and was chosen for the women's cricket squad for the Patiala district. Subsequently, she led the under-16 and under-19 teams and played for several age divisions of the Punjab women's cricket team. She had a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and torn posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) at the age of fifteen, forcing her to stop playing cricket.
She was selected to play for Panjab in the BCCI Women's Senior One-Day Trophy in 2020–2021.
In the Women's Senior One Day Trophy on November 6, 2021, against Rajasthan Women, she scored 90 runs off 88 balls. With 15 wickets apiece, she and Rashi Kanojiya shared the lead as the 2021–2022 Women's Senior One Day Trophy's top wicket-takers on November 15, 2021, when they defeated the Maharashtra Women.
At the Women Senior Later District One Day Tournament in 2021-2022, Kanika was selected for the Patiala district squad. In the tournament's finale, Ahuja's team triumphed against the Jalandhar district team.
She participated in two matches and got one wicket against the India Women's B team when she was a member of the India Women's D squad, who won the 2022–2023 Senior Women's T20 Challenger Trophy.
In the Women's Senior One Day Trophy match on January 21, 2023, she scored 29 runs (not out) off 36 balls and claimed two wickets against Mumbai Women.
She won Performance of the Match honours in the game against the Meghalaya Women's Cricket Team on January 29, 2023. During the first Women's Premier League in 2023, she was acquired by Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) for Rs 35,000,000; her basic price was Rs 10,000,000,000. Her favourite Indian Premier League team was RCB.
Kanika Ahuja made her debut in their inaugural game against Delhi Capitals Women on March 5, 2023; she was disqualified for a duck.
She was removed by Pooja Vastrakar on March 6, 2023, after making 22 runs off of 13 balls against the Mumbai Indians Women. Kanika received the title of Safari Strong.
Smriti Mandhana, the captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore, commended Kanika's efforts during the post-game news conference.
She was dismissed on March 8, 2023, by Gujarat Giants Women when Sushma Verma stumped her off an Ashleigh Gardner ball.
Kanika expressed her love for Harmanpreet Kaur, the captain of the Indian Women's Cricket team, and noted how Harmanpreet has aided and supported her career in several ways.
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