Anjum Chopra is an Indian cricket commentator and former cricketer. She represented India in over 150 international matches across formats over 18 years. Chopra was the first woman to reach 1,000 ODI runs for India. Since retirement, Chopra has worked as an English-language commentator covering professional cricket such as the Indian Premier League.
She played various sports at an early age, representing her school and college in athletics, basketball, and swimming. She was also a member of the Delhi State basketball team that competed at nationals.
Chopra made her debut in one-day internationals at the age of 17, on 12 February 1995 against New Zealand at Christchurch, New Zealand, and made her debut in Test cricket a few months later against England at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, on 17 November 1995. In only her second series for India the same year, she was awarded player of the series in the one-day internationals against the visiting England cricket team, scoring at an average of 67.5.
She played as a left-handed batter who bowled right-arm medium pace. She played in 12 Tests, 127 ODIs and 18 T20Is. She was coached by Sunita Sharma, Hardeep Dua and Tarak Sinha from Sonnet Club. She was the first woman to score 1,000 runs in ODIs for India.
Carving out a niche in the male-dominated sport in the country, Chopra has begun to be recognized as the face of women’s cricket in India as a player, captain, consultant, commentator, motivational speaker, author, and actor.
Chopra attended Delhi Public School R.K. Puram. She received her undergraduate degree from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi and completed her Masters in Business Administration from FORE School of Management with a dual specialisation in Marketing and Human Resources.
Chopra belongs to a family of sportspeople:
Maternal grandfather Ved Prakash Sahni was an athlete and represented India. He was also a cricket commentator.
Mother Poonam Chopra has won a Goodyear car rally.
Brother Nirvan Chopra has represented Delhi state in Under−17 and Under-19 cricket.
Maternal uncle Rohit Sahni is a former cricketer who captained both Hindu College and Delhi University.
Anjum Chopra is both a Test and One Day International cricketer who represented India’s national women’s cricket team. She is currently working as a cricket commentator. She made her One Day International debut in 1995 against New Zealand at Christchurch. In the first ODI she opened the bowling for India, giving 14 runs in her 4 overs. Going in to bat at No 10 for India, she had a crucial partnership of 11 runs to secure the victory for India.
She made her Test match debut in November 1995 against England in Calcutta. She was sent in as a nightwatchman against the English team in her very first Test match for India. Living up to her coach’s confidence in her she successfully batted until the next morning until lunch scoring 27 runs for her team.
She was made Vice Captain of the Indian team in 2000 ESPNcricinfo World Cup in New Zealand. With two player of the match awards and the highest scorer from India, Chopra led the batting charts at the World Cup until the Indian team lost in the semi-finals to eventual winners New Zealand.
Chopra was made the Captain of the Indian team in 2002. In her first series as skipper, she led India with 7 debutants to a whitewash win over visiting England side, a record victory. The Indian team’s first tour of South Africa saw them record their first overseas Test win, with Anjum Chopra scoring a match-winning 80. Her astute captaincy and using the part-time bowlers got the team 20 South African wickets at Paarl.
In 2005 World Cup in South Africa, India reached the finals of the World Cup for the first time. She was the top scorer from India and was also the Player of the Match against England.
In 2009 World Cup in Australia, in a must-win game for India, Chopra scored 76 match-winning runs and bagged the player of the match award. India finished third at the World Cup behind England and New Zealand.
She has played 6 World Cups for India, including four 50-over World Cups and two T20 World Cups. She is the first player to play 100 ODIs for India. One of the strong fielders on the team and a safe pair of hands, she has held the highest number of slip catches for India. A right arm medium pace bowler, Chopra made her debut as an all-rounder, opening the bowling in her first ODI and batting at No 10. She is the eighth-highest run-getter in women’s ODIs.
Chopra has batted at almost all positions for her team, including opening, when needed. She has scored against some of the best of bowling attacks in the world, and is known to occupy the crease and bat for long hours. For example, batting in the 2000 World Cup in New Zealand against Ireland, India was reeling at 3 wickets down with 1 run on the board. She played a patient knock of 70 runs and won the match.
She is known to bat well under pressure and has played numerous knocks to perfection to get the victory. A quick runner between the wickets, her ability to convert ones to twos had been an outstanding feature of Chopra’s batting style.
In the corporate world, Chopra is a motivational and corporate speaker/consultant. Also an MBA, she has conducted training programs for globally recognised brands such as General Electric, Standard Chartered, Goldman Sachs, Vodafone, and various schools and colleges.
