JAIPUR: It has been almost 17 years since that spine-chilling experience when militants entered Jasia Akhtar’s house in Brari Pora village in Shopian district in Jammu & Kashmir. She was held at gunpoint, and her father was told ‘yeah nahi khelegi India ke liye’ (she will not play for India). The 34-year-old batter shares that she considers herself lucky to have escaped that harrowing time unscathed, and even luckier as this episode could not stop her in her strides for very long.
“I was into shot put, kabaddi and cricket. But in 2006 when the terrorists entered our house, the entire family was shaken by the incident. Thankfully there was no bloodshed, but I stopped playing for five years, before finally starting my journey as a cricketer in 2011. It makes me emotional thinking about all that I have gone through and today I am one of those women who will play the first edition of the Women’s Premier League (WPL),” she told TOI.
