Asha Sobhana (born 16 March 1991) is an Indian cricketer who plays for Pondicherry women's cricket team in domestic cricket and for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Women's Premier League. She is an all-rounder, who is a right-handed batter and a leg break bowler.[1]
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Asha Sobhana Joy | ||||||||||||||
| Born | 16 March 1991 Trivandrum, Kerala, India | ||||||||||||||
| Batting | Right-handed | ||||||||||||||
| Bowling | Right-arm leg break | ||||||||||||||
| Role | All-rounder | ||||||||||||||
| International information | |||||||||||||||
| National side |
| ||||||||||||||
| ODI debut (cap 143) | 16 June 2024 v South Africa | ||||||||||||||
| Last ODI | 19 June 2024 v South Africa | ||||||||||||||
| T20I debut (cap 82) | 6 May 2024 v Bangladesh | ||||||||||||||
| Last T20I | 9 May 2024 v Bangladesh | ||||||||||||||
| T20I shirt no. | 4 | ||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | |||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | ||||||||||||||
| 2006/07–2018/19 | Kerala | ||||||||||||||
| 2013/14–2021/22 | Railways | ||||||||||||||
| 2022/23–present | Pondicherry | ||||||||||||||
| 2023–present | Royal Challengers Bangalore | ||||||||||||||
Source: ESPNcricinfo, 3 April 2024 | |||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Early years
editBorn in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, she found interest in cricket while studying at Cotton Hill Girls Higher Secondary School.[2] Sobhana's cricket journey started when she went for her first district cricket trials and got selected for the district cricket team at the age of 12.[3] She was mentored by former Kerala captain Shabina Jacob in her early career.[4] Although initially she was a pace bowler, once she was bowling leg spin and was then advised by her coach to become a leg spinner.[5] When she was 15 years old, Kerala Cricket Association sent her to train at the MAC Spin Foundation.[6]
Domestic career
editSobhana made her List A debut for Kerala on 28 November 2006, against Karnataka in the 2006–07 Senior Women's One Day League.[7] She made her first-class debut for Kerala on 10 September 2007, against Hyderabad in the 2007–08 Inter State Women's Competition.[8] She made her Twenty20 debut for Kerala on 3 December 2009, against Tamil Nadu in the 2008–09 Women's Senior T20 Trophy.[9] She joined the Railways cricket team in 2011 and represented the team for ten years.[10]
In 2022, she left the Railways team and moved to Puducherry to do commentary for a men’s T20 tournament.[11] Eventually, she was named as the captain of the Puducherry team for the 2021–22 Women's Senior T20 Trophy.[11] In February 2024, she was signed by the Royal Challengers Bangalore at a price of ₹10 lakh to play for them in the 2023 Women's Premier League.[12]
She was the leading wicket-taker for Puducherry in the 2023–24 Women's Senior One Day Trophy, picking up 16 wickets in seven matches.[13] She was also the only player to score more than 200 runs and take more than 10 wickets in that tournament.[14] On 24 February 2024, she took five wickets for 26 runs, helping RCB to beat UP Warriorz by 2 runs, during the 2024 Women's Premier League.[15] With this, she became the first Indian player to take a five-wicket haul in the Women's Premier League.[16] She remained as the second highest wicket-taker of the season,[17] claiming 12 wickets in ten matches.[18]
International career
editIn April 2024, Sobhana earned her maiden call-up to the India women's cricket team for their tour to Bangladesh.[19] She made her Twenty20 International (T20I) debut in the fourth match of same series on 6 May 2024.[20] In May 2024, she was named in India's One Day International squad for the series against South Africa.[21] She made her ODI debut on 16 June 2024, against South Africa.[22] She was named in the India squad for the 2024 ICC Women's T20 World Cup.[23]
References
edit- ^ "Profile: Asha Sobhana". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
- ^ "Who is Asha Sobhana? All you need to know about RCB all-rounder who picked 5-fer vs UPW in WPL 2024". Khel Now. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
- ^ Singh, Kanika (27 February 2024). "Asha Shobana – Starting With Paper Balls to Becoming First Indian with WPL Fifer". TheQuint. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
- ^ Anand, Ankit (25 February 2024). "Who is Asha Shobana? Everything you need to know about RCB's five-wicket hero". CricTracker. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
- ^ "Who Is Asha Sobhana? RCB Bowler Who Picked Fifer Against UP Warriorz In WPL 2024". Free Press Journal. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
- ^ "Inspired by Sachin Tendulkar, Kerala's Asha S Joy dreams of winning matches for India". The Bridge. 20 November 2019. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
- ^ "28th November 2006, Karnataka Women v Kerala Women". CricketArchive. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
- ^ "10th September 2007, Hyderabad Women v Kerala Women". CricketArchive. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
- ^ "Tamil Nadu vs. Kerala, 3 December 2009". CricketArchive. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
- ^ "Hard work, determination and a bit of kismet: For RCB's Asha Sobhana, WPL is just the start". The Hindu. 26 February 2024. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
- ^ a b S, Gomesh (9 March 2023). "Kerala leggie Asha finds Joy in WPL". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
- ^ "Sobhana Asha levels up to awesome for RCB". ESPNcricinfo. 25 February 2024. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
- ^ "Who is Asha Shobana? RCB Bowler who picked up a Fifer against UP Warriorz". Mykhel. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
- ^ Tripathi, Gaurav Nandan (21 February 2024). "WPL 2024 – Six lesser known Indian players to look out for". Cricket.com. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
- ^ "WPL 2024: Asha Sobhana's five-for helps Royal Challengers Bangalore beat UP Warriorz in nail-biter". Scroll.in. 24 February 2024. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
- ^ "Sobhana Asha becomes first Indian to take five-wicket haul in WPL history". Firstpost. 25 February 2024. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
- ^ "Shreyanka Patil And Asha Sobhana: The RCB Spin Duo Are Here To Stay". Forbes India. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
- ^ "WPL: Top 5 uncapped players who have captured the limelight this season". The Bridge. 18 March 2024. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
- ^ "Maiden call-up for two WPL stars as India announce T20I squad for Bangladesh series". International Cricket Council. 15 April 2024. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
- ^ "4th T20I (D/N), Sylhet, May 06, 2024, India Women tour of Bangladesh". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 9 May 2024.
- ^ "Harmanpreet Kaur to lead India women's multi-format squad vs South Africa". India Today. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
- ^ "IND-W vs SA-W Cricket Scorecard, 1st ODI at Bengaluru, June 16, 2024". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
- ^ "India's squad for the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2024 announced". Board of Control for Cricket in India. Retrieved 3 October 2024.