Rising Star: Sanya Khurana on Qualifying for the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026

Cardiff Business School student and High Performance Programme athlete Sanya Khurana is preparing for the biggest tournament of her career after helping the Netherlands secure a historic place at the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026.

The Dutch side booked their place at the global tournament following a successful qualification campaign in Nepal earlier this year, securing a spot among the world's best teams. Alongside her international cricket commitments, Sanya is studying BSc Business Management (Marketing), combining her academic studies with elite-level sport.

Ahead of the ICC Women's T20 World Cup, which takes place in England and Wales from 12 June to 5 July 2026, we caught up with Sanya to discuss the team's historic qualification, balancing life as a student-athlete, her experiences representing Cardiff University, and her ambitions for the summer ahead.

First of all, congratulations! How does it feel to qualify for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup with the Netherlands and has it sunk in yet?

Thank you so much! It's a feeling like no other, qualifying for a World Cup is any cricketer's dream. It has started to sink in a little now with training ramping up and preseason fixtures coming up, but we are all very excited to be playing against the world's best and learning along the way! Qualifying for this World Cup in England and Wales is prime location for us, so that family can come support as it's only a 45-minute flight away!  We tend to have an orange army everywhere we go around the world but with it being so close to the Netherlands, the support will be massive! Being a part of the team that's made history, qualifying for the first ever world cup is a dream come true!

Can you tell us about the qualification campaign back in January?

Our qualifiers for this World Cup were in Kathmandu, Nepal which was an incredible experience. In the build up to the qualifiers, we had a three week tournament in Thailand, the first ICC Emerging Nations Trophy, where we played a few of the teams who we were going to face in the Qualifiers as well. Having these extra games before the qualifiers was massive because we could fine tune our skills and get some more game time out in similar conditions to Nepal which we definitely couldn't have done in the snow in the Netherlands! At the qualifiers, in the group stage we won all our games which gave us the confidence (and points!) we needed going into the super six. We only needed to win one game at the super six to qualify, which we did against USA. It was an anticlimactic game as it was rain affected... The first and only day it rained the whole tournament. Finding out we had qualified and won the game through the umpires calling the game off was confusing but an unbelievable feeling none the less, our emotions were everywhere!  The adrenaline rush was crazy, after going and celebrating with our families and supporters, we turned the covers into a slip and slide and got our coaches involved as well!  We had worked so hard up to that point and it all felt worth it. The sense of relief and emotions were uncontrollable! After a soggy and loud bus trip back to the hotel, the celebrations continued throughout the night!

How do you balance being a student and competing at such a high level?

Obviously, balancing a university degree with training and competitions is not easy, but it has allowed me to work on my time management skills. It comes with a lot of sacrifices but, moments like this and being a part of a team with such a great group of people makes it worth it. The university have played a massive role in supporting me with being able to take time away from university whilst still making my degree achievable. Going away for a couple of weeks at a time means I miss quite a lot of contact time, but being able to catch up easily online makes it feasible to catch up.

What has the University’s High Performance Programme meant for your development?

Being a part of the High Performance Programme (HPP) has been massive for me, because they have been extremely supportive and helpful when I do need to take time away from university, having close links with the Business School. The HPP also provide a lot of facilities, with access to top class gym facilities as well as being able to book the cricket nets as and when I need it, which has allowed me to train with my coach multiple times a week. Being at university in Cardiff, away from the girls in the Netherlands means I have had to manage my workloads and progress myself with my coach which has been tough but having this support to hand has played a massive role in my development.

What has been your most memorable moment representing Cardiff University Women's Cricket Club (CUWCC) so far?

My most memorable moment representing Cardiff University Women's Cricket Club was beating Swansea at Sophia Gardens in last year's Varsity.  Captaining the girls at an amazing venue with the unbelievable support from the Cardiff University students was a great feeling.  And doing it with some of my best friends was extremely memorable. In general, just playing with the girls in BUCS fixtures as well has been great, seeing the girls improve and going a whole season undefeated last year was incredible. Excited to do it all over again this year!

Looking ahead to the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup this summer, what are your goals?

Personally, going into the World Cup, I am aiming to just do what I do well and take these opportunities as well as I can.  Playing at the global stage with so much awareness is massive for the women's game so being in the eyes of all these people will be a great test of my composure and skill level.  But also, making sure I soak in all the experiences and learn from some of the best players there are in the women's game at the minute.  Making sure I learn and improve through everything I do has always been massive for me, so taking that mentality into the world cup will be very important.

Finally, what advice would you give to other student-athletes aiming to reach this level?

I think it's so important, when you have a lot of things to manage, to make sure that you are doing what you need to do when you can, and not to get too fixated on any failures due to time management or general workloads. Progress is not linear! But also, when times do get busy and hard to remember why you play the game and think back to the good times and that those times will come you just have to stick at it!  There will be times where you have to make sacrifices and it will not be easy, but again just go back to why you do it and the good times.

As the ICC Women's T20 World Cup begins this week, Sanya will join the world's best players on cricket's biggest stage. Everyone at Cardiff University wishes her and the Netherlands team every success throughout the tournament.