Blazing a trail of success
"I hope a lot more girls inside our country will focus more on playing cricket and focus on their fitness in order to achieve something because of their country after seeing my performance or Jahanra's [Alam] performance," Salma Khatun said after helping Trailblazers win the Women's T20 Challenge for the very first time.
Salma had to undergo a challenging six-day quarantine period at a hotel in the United Arab Emirates before she got the opportunity to introduce herself to the others of her Trailblazers teammates, with whom she participated in the three-team T20 tournament.
But by enough time the tournament ended, Salma ensured that she'd require no further introduction, at least not to players from around the world playing in the franchise T20 tournament -- popularly known as the Women's IPL.
In her debut campaign, she played an essential part in assisting Trailblazers to the title. Adapting to tough conditions was never a concern for a girl whose family had endured poverty for most of their lives. And Salma just as before proved her mettle at an essential juncture of the final as she returned miserly figures of three for 18 in her four overs after coming on to bowl at the latter stages throughout their 16-run victory over Supernovas on Monday.
Salma is one of the very first batch of women cricketers of the united states therefore her cricketing journey is laying the building blocks for future batches of cricketers in the united states. And for the reason that regard, Salma has rarely failed to inspire.
It had been under her leadership that Bangladesh won the Asia Cup in 2018 -- the first major cricketing trophy for a country where male cricketers usually get the lion's share of the spotlight.
According to Nazmul Abedeen Fahim, who was simply manager of the BCB women's cricket wing development for years, Salma is just as good as any male spinner the country has.
"Salma has the capacity to turn the ball from the batters and will also bowl the arm ball very effectively. She actually is as effective as any spinner we have in the Bangladesh [male] side," opined Nazmul.
Salma was however not the only Bangladeshi player who featured in the tournament. Pacer Jahanara Alam completed her second stint with Velocity. Even though Velocity cannot make it to the final, falling short on net run-rate, Jahanara didn't neglect to make a name for herself. The right-armer scalped two crucial wickets throughout their win against Supernovas in the opening game.
In the first 2000s, it took some inspiring performances from the likes of Mohammad Rafique, Mohammad Ashraful and Mashrafe Bin Mortaza to help instil the confidence within the next generation that they too can prosper on the international stage. Similarly, the likes of Salma and Jahanara may be the kinds to lay the groundwork and pave the road for the upcoming batch of women cricketers, who could reach new heights at the best level.
They just need to work harder so as to turn what Salma already believes into reality, "I believe we've more girls with the capacity of playing in the IPL. Since it's only three teams, they could not get in but if there are more teams I am sure 2-3 more players from Bangladesh would get called up."
