Roaring begin: Saika scalped 4 wickets on her WPL debut for Mumbai Indians.
| Photo Credit: ANI
It was with boys that Saika Ishaque began enjoying cricket. That just isn’t uncommon in any respect for feminine cricketers, around the globe. What is uncommon is that the boys she performed with, at an academy in Kolkata, thought that she was a boy.
“I had short hair and looked quite like a boy; I was about nine then,” a smiling Saika mentioned throughout an interview with The Hindu on Wednesday. “When those boys found out that I was a girl, I felt embarrassed. They stopped talking to me.”
She is now the discuss of the city. With six wickets from two matches within the WPL, she turned an early proprietor of the purple cap.
The left-arm spinner took 4 wickets on her Mumbai Indians debut, towards Gujarat Giants, after which one other two towards Royal Challengers Bangalore. It ought to have been a dream begin to any uncapped participant.
“But I am not living my dream, I am living my father’s dream,” Saika says. “He used to take me along to watch Mohammedan Sporting’s football matches, but wanted me to play cricket. One of his friends — I think his name was Babloo — took me to that boys’ academy and later to another, where Jhulan Goswami trained.”
Saika misplaced her father when she was very younger. “He would have been really happy to see me playing at the WPL,” says the 27-year-old. “After his death, I was determined that I would become a cricketer.”
She is glad that she has been picked by Mumbai Indians. “MI has been my favourite IPL team and I am a fan of Suryakumar Yadav,” she says. “It is great playing alongside Harmanpreet Kaur, who is such a fine captain. Coach Charlotte Edwards has given me a lot of confidence.”
Edwards instructed her on the morning of the match towards Giants that she was within the eleven. “I was nervous, yes,” says Saika. “But I told myself: you have to bowl just one ball at a time.”
That technique appears to be working for Saika.
“I want to play for India,” she says.
