Nahida Akter - Tigresses’ queen of spin

The Bangladesh women's cricket team has been enjoying a tremendously successful year in cricket.

They've won an ODI at home and drawn the series against India for the first time.

Then they went on to win an ODI and also the T20I series against Pakistan at home, another first.

Recently, they won their first T20II against South Africa in South Africa and with the 2nd match rained out, have a chance to win the series too.

One of the reasons the Tigresses have done so well is their spinners doing well.

Nahida Akter has been one of the biggest reasons for that and she has quickly established herself as the leader of the spin attack.

The off-spinner was the player of the series against Pakistan in the T20I and ODI series as she was the leading wicket-taker.

Those performances gained her a nomination for the ICC's Player of the Month award for November. 

Nahida spoke with The Business Standard (TBS) in an exclusive interview after the T20I series win against Pakistan on her cricket journey so far.

The 23-year-old began her cricketing journey in 2013 when she was admitted to the BKSP, the country's premier sports academy. 

"I used to play cricket with the other guys in my neighbourhood as a kid when I was in school. Most of them were older than me but they used to pick me in their teams because I was good enough. One day, I saw a circular from the BKSP that said they were taking students in. I told my family about it and got to take the entrance exam. And luckily I managed to get in. So that's how it all started," Nahida told TBS.

Although Nahida started off as a batter, her coaches saw her potential as a spin bowler.
"I used to chuck before when bowling. But it's the credit to the coaches at the BKSP that they helped me with my action and saw that I could do well in spin bowling." 

Among her cricketing heroes or idols, she names Bangladesh men's team spin bowling coach Rangana Herath and all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan as big influences.

"I am a big fan of Shakib bhai! His aggression and body language when playing cricket and bowling is something I really like and try to replicate myself. You can see he's always determined to do well with the bat and with the ball, and that's why he's a top all-rounder."

She reveals that one of the key reasons for Bangladesh doing well in recent times has been the players being more focused on their fitness.

As a result, their running between the wickets during batting and fielding during bowling has also improved.

"I'm very thankful that our hard work is paying off. Over the last 6-7 months, we have been focusing on maintaining our fitness. That has allowed us to score 15-20 runs more during batting too. Our power-hitting has also improved. I really hope we can keep this up," she concluded.