WPL: Jasia Akhtar – From playing in bathroom slippers to donning Delhi Capitals jersey | Cricket News

JAIPUR: Almost 17 years have passed since that terrifying experience the militants entered Jasia Aktar‘s house in the village of Brari Pora in the Shopian district of Jammu and Kashmir. She was held at gunpoint and her father was told ‘yeah nahi khelegi India ke liye’ (she won’t play for India). The 34-year-old dough shares that she considers herself lucky to have escaped this heartbreaking period unscathed, and even luckier because this episode couldn’t stop her for very long.
“I liked shot put, kabaddi and cricket. But in 2006, when the terrorists entered our house, the whole family was shaken by the incident. Fortunately, there was no bloodshed, but I stopped playing for five years, before finally starting my cricketing journey in 2011. It makes me emotional to think of all that I lived and today I am one of those women who will play the first edition of the Women’s Premier League (WPL),” she told TOI.
Jasia was chosen by the Capitals of Delhi for Rs20 lakh and she is the only female cricketer in the valley to be part of the inaugural WPL which kicks off on March 4.

Jasia is the eldest of five siblings, and her father, Gull Mohammad Wani, owns a small amount of farmland from which he earns a modest income.
The right-winger shares that before she started her national career, she used to play in bath slippers and things have changed drastically in 2019. And then my father bought me shoes several times that cost 400-500 something, but the sole came off in no time. I couldn’t afford good shoes and had no knowledge of what shoes to wear to play. Things changed when I started playing National cricket. But the improvement came in 2019 when I played Women’s T20 Challenge and Punjab became the T20 champion in the 2018-19 domestic season in the same year. Tab paisey aaney lagey (Money started coming from then). Before that, I couldn’t afford a pair of spikes. And now, after getting the WPL contract, Puma has become my sponsor for life,” she said.

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Strongly built Jasia started his cricketing career representing J&K for a year. She then moved to Punjab between 2013 and 2020 and for the past two years has been playing as a professional for Rajasthan. “There was a lack of infrastructure at J&K and the weather was also an issue. We only have three months to play, the rest of the time it’s very cold and snowy, then it rains for a few months,” she added.
Jasia has done well on the national circuit in recent years, but this season she has stood out in all tournaments. She was the Senior Women’s One Day Trophy top scorer with 501 points in nine games. In the Senior Women’s T20 Trophy, cricketer J&K was the second-highest points scorer with 273 runs in seven matches, including 125 unbeaten. runs in six games and was the fourth-highest points scorer with 114 points in four games in the Senior Women’s T20 Challenger Trophy.
The right hitter believes nothing matters except hard work to achieve goals. “I think success will come to you regardless of your age and background if you are willing to work hard,” she added.

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