British Indian cricketer Isa Guha is IPL’s hot favourite commentator

Isa Guha is turning out to be IPL's hottest find. A recent tweet by a user on Twitter said "I am going to fast till morning to protest IPL showing so little of Isa Guha" Image courtesy: Rediff Pages

@isaguha on Twitter has been called the hot IPL commentator, cricket expert and bowler babe amongst many other things. Isa Guha is a right arm medium pace bowler for English cricket team and has played in Test matches as well as ODIs. The 27 year old British-Indian is much more than a pretty face in the IPL presentation team on Set Max.

Isa Guha’s date of birth is 21 May 1985. She was born in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire in England to Indian parents who migrated to England during the 70′s from Kolkata. She has a brother who is 7 years older to her.

Isa Guha has taken 101 wickets in the 83 ODIs she has played for England. Image courtesy: BBC

Isa Guha’s childhood memories include being told great stories about the likes of Sunil Gavaskar and Ian Botham. Her father and her brother were ardent cricket fans and the whole family used to follow men’s cricket.

At the age of 8 Isa used to tag along with her brother Kaush to the local cricket club in High Wycombe. Despite being the only girl playing cricket with them she found herself at par with the young boys.

When Swarup Kar of Espnstar Sportscenter quizzed Isa about her childhood memories of playing cricket with the boys, she said “I loved playing against boys when I was growing up. I used to love getting them out because they would hate it, you know. They’d be so embarrassed if they ever got out to a girl. So I really enjoyed the challenge.”

In her Test debut against India in August 2002 at County Ground in Taunton, Isa Guha bowled 29.1 overs and took 2 wickets. Image courtesy: BBC

Besides the cricket club, Isa and her brother spent a lot of time playing cricket in the garden of their home. Because her brother would try to bowl as fast as he could to take her wicket, Isa too would try to bowl as fast as she could to take his wicket.

Soon enough Isa started taking cricket seriously and at the age of 16 she made her debut in ODI cricket against the women’s cricket team of Scotland. At 17 a young Isa Guha made her Test debut in 2002. Ironically, she played against India when she was called in to replace Sarah Collyer.

So how did she feel playing against India? Back in 2006 she told The Telegraph “When I made my one-day international debut v India in 2002, I found myself fielding questions about potential split loyalties, but I will always say that I’m British born and bred.”

Isa Guha has managed to complete studies while playing international cricket. She is a chemistry graduate. Image courtesy: Espncricinfo

Throughout her career Isa has juggled playing cricket for the England women’s team, England under – 19 and studying biochemistry at University College London. In 2008 Isa Guha was ranked the number one bowler in the world as per ICC rankings. She was also was a part of the 2009 World Cup winning England cricket team.

She has bowled two 5 wicket spells in ODIs and once in Test. Isa has also bowled a career best 9 wicket spell which helped the English women’s cricket team win the Ashes in 2007-08. This match took place in Bowral, NSW in Australia and according to her, the Ashes win was one of the highlights of her career along with playing the world cup.

In March 2012 Isa Guha retired from international cricket after being a part of the English squad for more than a decade. She continues to play county cricket in England for Berkshire. In the span of her prolific career Isa played 8 test matches and 83 ODIs. In 2002 and 2010 Isa was named BBC Asian Network Sports Personality of the Year.

Isha Guha with IPL co-presenters Navjot Singh Sidhu and Gaurav Kapoor hosting Sanjay Dutt. Image courtesy: MailOnline

Isa was signed up by ITV to cover the latest edition of IPL in April 2012. She was put alongside cricketing and TV veterans like Navjot Singh Sidhu and now mingles with the cream of the cricketing-media scene in India, including Harsha Bhogle. Currently Isa Guha also writes for the sport section of BBC website.

In a recent Twitter conversation former England player Mark Butcher teased Isa about her friendship with Harsha. Mark tweeted “Hey @isaguha , i hear you and Harsha Bhogle are becoming very close….” To this Isa replied by tweeting “@markbutcher72 yes we are besties now :) @bhogleharsha”

Isa Guha's twitter conversation with Mark Butcher and Harsha Bhogle.