While male cricketers have returned to training with a set target in mind, the same cannot be said about the women cricketers as the BCB are yet to schedule a series for the Tigresses in pandemic era. Since the halt in cricketing activities, The Daily Star has been talking to women cricketers to learn stories of their early days. In today’s instalment, we talk to Fahima Khatun, the only Bangladeshi cricketer to bag a hattrick in a T20I.
Courageous and resilient are perhaps two words associated with people from Magura. The statement holds true when we talk about Bangladesh’s brightest star, Shakib Al Hasan, who hails from this small district in Khulna. Bangladesh women’s team cricketer Fahima Khatun may not yet have touched the heights that Shakib occupies, she is just as fearless and courageous as the nation’s premier all-rounder.
Fahima and Shakib did cross paths once, and the 27-year-old leg spinner speaks about that moment proudly.
“I want to see you play. Whenever you get on the field, never think that you are a girl. Always think that you are a player,” Shakib had told Fahima when she was once practising at the Magura Central Stadium.
Shakib may not have known it, but those were the words that Fahima, a girl who had to fight against many odds to make her career, needed most to hear. As she admitted, she never feared taking on any opponents — regardless of size or gender — since that day. Talking about fighting the odds, Fahima remembered the time she had to wage a kind of war against someone within her family – her elder brother Rasel Ahmed, who was always against her playing cricket.
“I was never attracted by the games that girls usually play during their childhood. I also did not usually wear girls’ clothes. Most of the time I used to steal my brother’s clothes and wear them. I also used to steal my brother’s bike and go for rides. For these reasons, my brother used to scold me and fight with me as he was always against me doing anything that was traditionally seen to be boyish,” said Fahima.
Things have changed dramatically over the years. Fahima has now played 14 ODIs and 59 T20Is for Bangladesh since her debut in 2013. And ironically, Fahima and her brother have now switched roles.
“My brother does not say anything to me now. He is very happy since I have made it to the national team. The brother who used to bar me from wearing his clothes now proudly wears my jerseys and trousers. He even rides my bicycle in our hometown.
“I do not hold any grudge against my brother. If it wasn’t for his obstruction, I would not have insisted on carrying on playing cricket and might never have made it this far. I still sometimes jokingly call him ‘the villain’,” said Fahima. While her elder brother was “the villain” of Fahima’s life, her sister played the role of a hero.
“It was my sister Asma Akhi who used to take me to play in different tournaments without my brother’s knowledge. We even used to sneak back into our house so that my brother wouldn’t know. Basically, it was my sister who helped me get this far in my life,” concluded Fahima.
