Who is Saima Thakor? 5 interesting facts about UP Warriorz bowler who took 2/30 vs DC in WPL 2024
Saima Thakor bowled an impressive spell of 2/30 in the match between UP Warriorz (UPW) and Delhi Capitals (DC) two nights ago. In a low-scoring thriller, Thakor accounted for the wickets of Shafali Verma and Jemimah Rodrigues to help UPW defend a 139-run target against DC at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.
During the fourth over of Delhi Capitals' innings, fans witnessed a heated exchange between Saima Thakor and Shafali Verma. Thakor played mind games with the DC opener and then rattled her stumps on the fourth ball of the over. Fans loved the heated battle between the two WPL 2024 stars.
Later in the game, Saima Thakor dismissed Jemimah Rodrigues caught out to turn the match in UPW's favor. In this article now, we will look at five things which fans should know about the newest match-winner of the UP Warriorz franchise.
#1 Saima Thakor won the Senior Women's T20 Trophy with Mumbai last year
Thakor has never played international cricket for India Women, but the 27-year-old bowler has achieved much success at the domestic level. She turned up for Mumbai in the 2023 edition of the Senior Women's T20 trophy.
The pace bowler accounted for 11 wickets in 10 matches to help Mumbai become the champions. She finished 19th on the overall leaderboard of bowlers with the most wickets in Senior Women's T20 Trophy 2023. Her economy rate in the tournament was just 4.93 runs per over.
#2 Saima Thakor remained wicketless in her first 3 WPL matches
Thakor made her Women's Premier League debut for the UP Warriorz just a few days ago. She received her maiden UPW cap ahead of the match against the Royal Challengers Bangalore in Bengaluru on February 24.
The UPW pacer returned with figures of 0/23 on her WPL debut. Interestingly, captain Alyssa Healy did not give even one over to Thakor in the subsequent matches against Gujarat Giants and Royal Challengers Bangalore.
#3 Saima Thakor's maiden WPL wicket was Harmanpreet Kaur
Thakor has bagged three wickets in her short Women's Premier League career so far. Two of her three scalps were against the Delhi Capitals, where she dismissed Shafali Verma and Jemimah Rodrigues.
Before that, Saima bagged her maiden WPL wicket against the Mumbai Indians. She rattled the stumps of MI skipper Harmanpreet Kaur to open her account in the Women's Premier League.
#4 Saima Thakor overcame a near career-ending injury
Back in 2020, Thakor shared a clip of herself recovering from a near career-ending injury. Motivating her followers, Thakor wrote in the caption:
"We die 1000 times Inside and still remain Alive, but nothing leaves it's Mark on us like the things that we SURVIVE..!"
She made a comeback to the cricket field after some time and is one of the main bowlers of UP Warriorz right now.
#5 Irfan Pathan taught a life lesson to Saima Thakor
In 2018, Thakor shared a photo with former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan on her Instagram profile and shared the life lesson which Pathan taught her.
Here's what Saima wrote:
"Throw back to the time when i met this Human who taught me that Life won't always give you what you Want instead it will give you what you Need."
Thakor also described Irfan as one of the most humble, gentle, kind and best person she had come across in her cricketing journey.