Cheerful, jolly minded, aggressive, flexing her muscles when the camera pans on her, fielding everywhere, and most importantly able to bowl fast and move the ball as well. She even plays tape ball cricket with her friends in the village during her off time.
This is not a type of character you find often. But Bangladesh women’s cricket team has one such character, Marufa Akter, the right arm pacer who dreams of taking a five wicket haul at Lord’s in the upcoming ICC Women’s T20 World Cup.
In an exclusive interview with Times of Bangladesh, Marufa opened up about her World Cup dream. When asked if she knows that taking a five wicket haul at Lord’s earns a place on the honours board, Marufa said, “Yes, I know.”
Bangladesh are scheduled to play their last World Cup match against South Africa on 28 June, which will mark their first ever appearance at Lord’s.
Marufa is already excited. With visible excitement on her face, she said, “It’s a dream, definitely a dream to play at Lord’s. I hope I can perform well. Since it is a dream place, I want to do something special there. Please keep me in your prayers.”
So does that mean we are going to see her name on the Lord’s honours board? Marufa responded with even more excitement, while staying humble. She urged everyone to pray for her, “Please pray for me. It will not happen if I pray alone, I need your prayers as well, InshaAllah.”
Characters like Marufa are gold dust in Bangladesh women’s cricket. What she brings on and off the field stands out. In a match against Pakistan in the last ODI World Cup, while Bangladesh were chasing, Marufa was relaxing in the dressing room after her spell of 7-0-31-2. Suddenly, the camera spotted her and she flexed her muscles.
“Actually, when I first joined the national team, I used to be very quiet. The senior apus were very free minded, but I still felt nervous because everything was new and I did not know what it would be like,” Marufa recalled about her early days in the national team.
“Then gradually they treated me with a lot of affection and made me feel like one of their own. I also see them as my own, like sisters. Now we feel close to each other, and I have become free and comfortable, so it does not feel like that anymore,” she said about how this character developed.
In that match in Colombo, Marufa bowled two ripping inswingers to dismiss Omaima Sohail and Sidra Amin. Both batters were left stunned by the sharp movement of the ball from her hand.
Those two deliveries still give her chills. But what is even more fascinating is the process behind them. Marufa said, “I had actually been thinking for about a month before that match that I would do something good there. Our analyst Rashid sir told me to focus and visualize it, to think about it before sleeping or whenever I could. I took that advice seriously and kept visualizing it, and Alhamdulillah, I was successful in that match.”
Speaking about those deliveries that started around the fifth stump and crashed into the wickets, Marufa said she trusted her strength, “I bowled my natural delivery. If I pitch it around the fourth, fifth, or sixth stump, it naturally comes into the wicket. So I focused on bowling to my strength, believing that something would happen.”
On how she developed her ability to generate proper seam movement and sharp swing, Marufa explained, “That is natural for me. When I went to BKSP, Fatema ma’am worked with me. You do not become a high quality bowler overnight. I had good bowling already, but at BKSP I developed into a better shape, and from there I moved into the camp.”
