WPL 2024: Indian international Gouher Sultana, aged 35, makes debut for UP Warriorz

When Gouher Sultana donned Bengal’s jersey at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium and played against Hyderabad in the Senior Women’s One Day Trophy in 2021, no one, including her, would have expected her to come back at the same venue after three years and feature in the Women’s Premier League.

At 35 years and 322 days, Gouher returned from the wilderness after UP Warriorz named her in the playing XI for Monday’s clash against Delhi Capitals, replacing Saima Thakor.

Not many would have heard of Gouher, understandably so, as she featured in an international match almost a decade ago.

A left-arm spin bowler and a right-hand batter, Gouher bolted into the Indian team as a 20-year-old in 2008.

Her international career weighed 50 ODIs and 37 T20Is over the next six years before the Hyderabad bowler played her final game against Pakistan in early 2014. She accumulated 95 wickets across 87 international appearances while scoring a total of 102 runs.

A lower-order batter, Sultana could hold one end too, doing it famously in an ODI against England in Taunton in 2012. A 58-run tenth-wicket stand with Amita Sharma had scripted a nail-biting 14-run win.

Meanwhile, on the domestic front, Gouher migrated from Hyderabad to Railways, Puducherry and Bengal before returning home this year. She was also out of the action in phases between 2021 and 2024.

In Warriorz outfit, Gouher has Sophie Ecclestone and Rajeshwari as fellow left-arm tweakers and brilliant allies in the spin department.

Gouher is the second-oldest player after Royal Challengers Bangalore’s Ekta Bisht (37 years) to feature in the WPL 2024 match.