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Her duties on the Kayo Sports coverage of the Ashes aside, it has been a busy summer for Guha, who has run fundraising events for her charity Take Her Lead across Australia before and during Test matches in support of this goal.<\/p>\n
In light of the legacy she is setting away from the microphone with Take Her Lead, Guha received an MBE \u2014 a member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire \u2014 in King Charles\u2019s New Year\u2019s Honours List for 2026. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt is obviously really special,\u201d she told foxsports.com.au<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t set out to be acknowledged like that or be recognised like that. My mum would tell me that when nice things come, gratefully receive them, and I am very grateful for this honour.\u201d<\/p>\n
Guha, who was planning to celebrate the MBE on Sydney Harbour with friends and family including her father Barun, has always been a standout. <\/p>\n
But it was not just because of a talent so exceptional she won Ashes series and a World Cup with England. She was also the only girl playing cricket in her area as a kid and the sport was not an option at her school.<\/p>\n
So she went it alone.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy brother, who is seven years older than me, used to play for our local club and was always practising in the back garden,\u201d she said in a first-person piece for The Guardian in 2012.<\/p>\n
\u201cI used to run around after the ball (and) my parents could tell I was interested in it too, so they took me down to the local club as well. There were no other girls, so I just started playing with the boys. I loved getting them out.\u201d<\/p>\n
An invitation to play with the Thames Valley Under-21 team, when aged 11, led to a meeting with former England representative Charlotte Edwards and it \u201call spiralled from there\u201d.<\/p>\n
‘A rollercoaster’: Guha on Bazball | 02:31<\/p>\n
A trailblazer, Guha became the first woman of south Asian heritage to play for England and featured in eight Tests, 83 ODIs and 22 T20s for her nation in a highly successful career.<\/p>\n
Back issues forced Guha into retirement in her late-20s and while she had degrees in neuroscience, biochemistry and molecular biology from University College London, cricket and sport has remained her passion and a career in broadcasting beckoned.<\/p>\n
Her expertise is celebrated by Fox Cricket throughout each summer of cricket, but the Londoner is also a regular for the BBC each Wimbledon and has played prominent roles in the broadcaster\u2019s coverage of the Paris Olympics and Birmingham Commonwealth Games.<\/p>\n
But it is for her work with Take Her Lead \u2014 which focuses on furthering inclusivity and participation in cricket for girls and young women \u2014 as much her excellence on the field and behind the microphone that Guha was honoured with the MBE. <\/p>\n
Adam Gilchrist, Isa Guha, Mark Waugh and Kerry O’Keeffe on the Fox Cricket panel.Source: Supplied<\/p>\n
In the first person piece back in 2012, Guha acknowledged something that had troubled her and inspired her to continue in her bid to make a difference for the type of girl she once was.<\/p>\n
\u201cAsian parents generally tend to channel their children, especially their daughters, into studying and not sport,\u201d she wrote at the time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI see a lot of Asian girls playing cricket now, but they all tend to drop off when they hit 16 or 17 years old and give it up. I was lucky, because my parents encouraged me. I feel a responsibility now to set an example to other Asians, and that also makes me feel proud.\u201d<\/p>\n
The desire to make a difference never left Guha, even as her professional life became busier and busier, and she founded the charity Take Her Lead to pursue these goals.<\/p>\n
She praised her mother Roma, who died in 2020, for the encouragement she offered during her pursuit of the sport she loved and said the recognition was as much an acknowledgement of her family and also her charity given the work it has done.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is that, more than anything. It means so much to my parents, who came to the United Kingdom from India in the \u201870s to start another life,\u201d she said on New Year\u2019s Eve.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mum, there is no way I would be doing what I am doing now without her. It is as much for mum and dad, and for the charity as well, that achievement. We are trying to do some good things.\u201d <\/p>\n