Anjum Chopra becomes the first Indian Women's cricketer to be awarded MCC life membership

In some great news for Indian Women’s cricket, former captain Anjum Chopra has become the first Women’s cricketer from the country to be awarded the life membership from the Marleybourne Cricket Club(MCC).

Expressing delight over bing awarded this distinction, the 39-year-old said that it was an honour not just for her, but for Women’s cricket in India and she was ecstatic to receive the life membership.

“It is actually an honour for women’s cricket in India. My journey had begun with a trip to the National Stadium as a schoolgirl and I am delighted to be the first woman player from India to receive the MCC membership.

"It's been an honour. Two months back I got a mail from the Lord's office asking me whether I would like to accept the honorary life membership of MCC. After I replied, they sent me an acceptance letter. Two days back when Zaheer's name came up as the new MCC Life Member, I saw the list and found my name there.

“It feels good when you see the names of the Indian cricket's legends like Sunil Gavaskar, Gundappa Viswanath, who have been bestowed with the honour of life membership of MCC,” she said.

In a career spanning 11 years, Chopra played 12 Tests and 127 ODIs for India, amassing 548 and 2856 runs in both formats respectively. She was India’s leading run-getter at the 2005 Women’s World Cup and was known for her ability to get runs under pressure.

She was the first Indian to score a hundred in ODIs and also the first player from the country to play 100 ODIs. She was awarded the Arjuna award in 2007 and the Padma Shri in 2014.

Chopra becomes 26^th Indian cricketer and the 3^rd one from India after Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan in 2016 to be awarded the membership.