Meet the captain of Bihar’s women cricket team

Yes. You heard it right. There is a Bihar’s women cricket team. Nishat Fatima is the T20 side captain, whereas Rachana kumari is the skipper of the First-class side.

Syed Nishat Fatima is the captain of T20 side of Bihar’s women cricket team.

Back in 2000, when Bihar and Jharkhand were fighting for their existence, a girl was falling in the love of Cricket in Jamshedpur. Nishat’s decision to play cricket has a tremendous impact on the upcoming generations of young women cricketers. Nishat decided to play cricket when no one had even thought about ladies’ cricket. Nishat is not only a stereotype breaker but, besides, an inspiration for thousands of girls to play cricket.

Nishat’s rise from a small town in Bihar to be an icon has also concurred with the rise of new India. We don’t need to look too far ahead from Bihar and Jharkhand to understand the impact of Nishat Fatima. After Nishat, Many young girls have chosen cricket now; some have made their place on the Indian side as well.

But remember, all of this was from the most ominous of beginnings. By the time Nishat emerged, Jharkhand was not even the second-best team from a permanent underperformer zone. Delhi and Maharashtra triumphed over them many times, but now the story has taken a turn.

Jharkhand is not just one of the best teams in the country; they can lay claim to have been the best on more than one occasion. So, it is a matter of pride for Bihar that Syed Nishat Fatima is leading the newly made-team from the front.

Initial life-Nishat was born in Jamshedpur, Bihar,(now in Jharkhand) in 1989. From her childhood itself, Nishat was very keen on playing cricket. With an absence of quantities of the girls playing cricket in her city and school, she started playing cricket with the boys of her school and society. She was utterly a flamboyant and naughtiest kid in her school.

The kid was more into cricket rather than studies during her school days. Taking a gander at her splendid performances and Junoon for the game during her school days, Nishat was called for playing district-level cricket. The young girl was so connected with the cricket that, even after not many girls playing cricket at that time, she continued playing cricket.

Nishat used to enjoy the sports without even thinking about the fate of it in her school days. She had no clue that women cricket also exists in the world. She just continued to play under her coach K.V.P. Rao.

Asking about her love for the game, Nishat told,“I had no idea that the girls also play cricket professionally in my childhood until my school coach asked me to play district-level matches. I just used to play and enjoy the intensity of the game.”

Her Struggle-The struggle of Bihar’s captain to play the game has been like every other girl in this country. Nishat dreamt of playing cricket when the state struggled, and wrongdoing was at its pinnacle. At the time, when Nishat started playing cricket, No one had even idea about women’s cricket throughout the country.

Along these lines, it was tough for Nishat to convince her parents for the game. Although, Nishat’s relatives and natives questioned her for playing this game. But, Nishat Fatima’s father supported her little girl’s fun to the moon and back and enjoyed every bit of her daughter’s happiness.

Initial career-

The explosive opening batsman performed exceptionally well for Jharkhand in each competition, with her bat, yet additionally with her sharp wicket-keeping skills. In her 16th year only, She was very fast behind the wickets. Once the Railway’s team coach looked her wicket-keeping skills during a tournament in Chennai, and he was intrigued to such an extent that he legitimately offered her a job and to play for Railway when She would turn 18.

Since that day, the Railway’s coach had remained in touch with her. At last, She turned 18, and the Southern Railway called her and offered an employment opportunity; however, Nishat left the work of Railway because of her reasons and returned home. Nishat began concentrating on her cricket as it were.

Nishat kept on playing for her state and was scoring huge amounts of Runs for Jharkhand, and in the outcome, she was chosen in the team of the east zone in Zonal competition (2009) close by a player like incredible Jhulan Goswami. Apart from this, She was also the best batsman for Jharkhand in U-19 cricket in 2008-09 season.

Highlight-

Although, the keeper-batsman has played many blistering knocks and won numerous matches for Jharkhand on his own. But, Zonal tournament, 2009 has been one of the most memorable games of her career. In a match of the competition, Nishat, alongside her accomplice Jhulan Goswami won a challenging game against South Zone.

In that competition in 2009, Nishat was again the highest Run-scorer in the contest and grabbed everybody’s eye, including Mithali Raj. Remembring that match, She explained,

” That win was extraordinary for me as the partnership between I and Jhulan Di won the match for east-zone.”

After her incredible performance throughout the tournament, with advice from Mithali Raj, the South Central Railway reached Nishat. It offered her to play for the South CentralRailways with a Railway job in Secundrabad. This time, Nishat acknowledged the bid for employment and began her new innings in Secundrabad. Explaining about her job in Railway, she said,

“I feel extremely blessed to carry out the responsibility for Railways. My insertion into Railways wouldn’t have been possible without my seniors Nitu David and Nooshin-Al-Khadeer. I can’t express gratitude toward them enough for their extensive support.”

In 2013, Nishat left her long-excursion of 12 years with Jharkhand and joined the Hyderabad cricket association in 2014 as a guest player.

Bihar’s story –

In 2018, when Nishat heard about BCA’s formation, She floated on air with the delight of serving her state again. Rapidly, Nishat wished her desire to BCA for playing for Bihar. The administration not only permitted her to play but also couldn’t resist itself from making him the captain of the team as She was carrying a milestone of 17 years of experience, and that’s simply phenomenal. In the group, Nishat keeps up numerous number of works like the opening batsman, the wicket-keeper, the captain, and, most importantly, a guide for all inexperienced players.

Nishat feels very proud that she can train the new generation and share her invaluable experiences with them. Nishat imagines this Bihar women team to do consistently well in the upcoming years.

Vision–

Nishat Fatima imagines Bihar women’s cricket to be one of the best teams in the nation. The captain wishes to win more matches against the bigger teams. Nishat can see an enormous amount of potential in the girls. She is exceptionally hopeful about the fact that the young girls would go on to win many matches for Bihar once they gain a bit more experience. Explaining about the future of Bihar’s women cricket team, she replied,

” Unquestionably, the future of the team is bright. The girls play boldly without any dread and hesitancy. Indeed, I get to learn a lot from their Junoon and love for the game. What the girls need is slightly more facilities. The girls perform so well without any pre-camp before the tournament. In the event that, these girls started getting facilities like a coach and camp before the season; the players have the potential to perform on the higher levels and win matches for Bihar.”

The explosive batsman has already scored more than 700 runs with a magnificent century in List-A career and counting.

Replying about Bihar’s cricket association, she explained,” The BCA is very visionary and trying it’s best to promote cricket in Bihar. The secretary of the BCA is very thoughtful and support us all the time.”

I feel, if We Bihari didn’t begin supporting our players, then we have no right to complain about Bihar sports. We need to know them, follow them, and, most importantly, represent them.

It’s time for us Bihari to support the players like Syed Nishat Fatima and, ofcourse, Bihar’s women cricket team.

Interviewed and written by Raja babu.