by Mayukh Ghosh
Women’s cricket has attracted much needed (and deserved) attention over the past decade or so.
In terms of the literature too, it has been the best decade.
Comprehensive histories have been written, biographies can be found on the bookshelves and mainstream writers/journalists have proudly and seriously covered women’s cricket in all corners of the world. Some just to ride with the trend but be that as may be.
Even then, a book on women’s cricket in Pakistan was a tad far-fetched.
Not because the subject didn’t deserve a book but because it was a tough ask.
Ultimately someone in India (of all places) thought about doing it and has been able to deliver it too.
Aayush Puthran’s Unveiling Jazbaa thus becomes an important book and fills a significant gap in the game’s literature.
Puthran is a journalist who, at present, writes for Cricbuzz. He was interested in the game and writing about it fairly early in his life.
In his own words:
“It was my love for cricket that got me into the habit of reading. The sports pages of Times of India, as a seven-year-old, during the 1999 World Cup.
“Thereafter, I would read anything on cricket wherever I could come across a mention of the sports magazines, other newspapers, even books like Manorama and Limca Book of Records. Some of the most priceless magazines I’ve got were from a paper shop near my house (raddiwala). Most significantly, one special edition of Wisden Cricket Asia, which basically had a collection of the best cricket writings of Wisden over the years.
“I enjoyed writing in school and college - the topics differed, but I rarely ever wrote anything on cricket. Since I was a Ganguly fan while growing up, my first piece of cricket literature was a piece of protest poetry when he was dropped from the side. However professionally, my first full-time cricket job was as a 19-year-old with CricketCountry.”
Most of that doesn’t seem unnatural for a cricket loving kid growing up in India in the 1990s and early 2000s.
But none of them have quite thought of writing about the women cricketers from Pakistan!
When asked how it all happened, he said:
“It happened by chance. I had made a passive commitment that I would do a story on the Pakistan women’s team and totally forgot about it. On the day of the interview, when I had to speak to five cricketers from different parts of Pakistan, I tried to do some background research on them but I was barely able to find anything about their cricket.
“However, when I spoke to them, their stories moved me. I expected their stories to be a lot like that of Indian women cricketers, but that wasn’t the case. Almost all of them had a similar thread to their stories - of having to play in secrecy, from their parents, neighbours or brothers. To a point that playing cricket was considered immoral for women, and an embarrassment for their close ones.
“So, the idea of the book came as much from how I felt hearing their stories as it was from the fact that there was vacuum in the literature of their cricket. It got me curious to find out more. It helped immensely that they spoke unlike most professional athletes - frank, honest, incisive and humorous.”
It was not an easy story to write and balancing the cricket with the socio-economic factors in Pakistan and how it plays a role was tricky.
“ I believe it goes hand-in-hand. To explain the story of Pakistan women’s cricket, I couldn’t have done it without giving a backdrop of what was happening elsewhere - in the personal lives of these players, the society at large, the political situation and how that was linked to the rights of women, regional-specific issues, etc. This is of course apart from the issue with the board, personal equations, etc. So, while the stories behind all the series in these 25 years are told, and their techniques and training are broken down by the coaches, it’s always overlapping with a personal story of a certain cricketer or the larger socio-political issues Pakistan is engulfed in with respect to women.
“For example, during the 2018 World T20, a few Pakistani players were skipping meals to save money. That sort of sets the context of how personal issues can impact the cricket on the field, and when they actually set out to play Australia, it isn’t going to be a level-playing field.”
The other challenge which always makes the job difficult is the lack of authentic archives and resources. And with women’s cricket in Pakistan, the problems were potentially even more.
“It’s of course difficult in the absence of documented data. The scarier bit was that there were possible data entry errors in the scorecards. Full local cricket scenes. For example, Nain Abidi claims that she has never picked up an international wicket, even though she has been credited with one. Similarly, Sania Khan has been credited as the team’s captain in two games, while the players involved in those games claim that Sana Mir captained in those matches, and in fact Sania has never captained the team.
“There were some old newspaper clippings and write-ups to rely on. But the good part was that journalists and players right from 1970s and 80s were accessible. However, since the lack of written documentation was an issue, we had to rely heavily on oral narrations. So, the question over any match or incident was posed to multiple people involved in the incident/match. After a point, you could see a pattern develop. Some people would evade certain questions - either by not answering at all or stating ‘I wasn’t there, I don’t know anything about it’ (even though they were present at the scene). Also, some people’s versions were routinely dismissed by everyone. So, when they mentioned a story and there was no backing for it, it was dismissed altogether.
“But the good part was, except two or three people, most others were in sync over the happenings of an event. Their perspectives differed, which is fair, but you sort of knew that the incident did take place. In cases where there were differences in perspective, all views were taken.”
When asked if he’d doing anything differently if he were to start all over again, Puthran said, “Yes, I want to do it all over again, and in fact I’m on it already. Every day, there is new learning and there is an urge to add something more to the story. It never feels complete. But that change wouldn’t be on emphasis or sequencing, but more about fleshing out the existing narrative by bringing in more diverse voices beyond the cricketing setup to add greater depth to the socio-political aspect of the story. I still see this book as just an introduction to the story of Pakistan women’s cricket.”
Unveiling Jazbaa should be widely read.
By cricket fans, yes, but not only them.
It deserves a wider reader base consisting of people with an interest in human stories.
It is available from all usual online and physical outlets and at a very reasonable price.