‘I had to change my whole procedure’: Jahanara on rejoining national team

Veteran Bangladeshi fast bowler Jahanara Alam once had been an irreplaceable player in the national women's team setup until she was dropped after the Sri Lanka series in May 2023. However, through dedication, sacrifice, and a stellar performance in the Dhaka Women's Premier League, where she finished as the highest wicket-taker with 25 wickets, she was recalled to the national side for the upcoming Women's T20 Asia Cup, scheduled to be held from July 19-28 in Sri Lanka. On Thursday following national team's training session at BKSP, the 31-year-old spoke to Samsul Arefin Khan of The Daily Star about her comeback in national colours, World Cup preparation and chances, and more. The excerpts are as follows:

The Daily Star (DS): You have made a return to the national team after a year's gap. How does it feel to be back among the national teammates?

Jahanara Alam (JA): To be honest, it's an amazing feeling. It's a proud moment for me to represent Bangladesh and give them my service. Hopefully, I can stay fit and play for Bangladesh once again wearing the jersey.

DS: Your comeback series is going to be the Women's Asia Cup. It's a very significant tournament for our T20 World Cup preparation. How do you see yourself and your team preparation-wise?

JA: Well, I would say it's all about performance. If we can play really well in the Asia Cup, where we will face three tough opponents – Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and India – I think it will be very good preparation for the World Cup. We will face Sri Lanka in the group phase and another team in the semis, assuming we qualify.

If we manage to reach the final, there is a chance we may face all three teams. Meanwhile, it's a plus point for us that the World Cup is all set to be held in Bangladesh. We know about the weather and wickets. So I think we are a little bit ahead of other teams. However, skill is a big matter and so is the performance. If you can do really well in the Asia Cup, it will increase our confidence and will be very helpful for delivering our performance.

DS: You have been part of Bangladesh national women's cricket team from the beginning. When you got dropped from the squad last year, did you really think you could make a comeback? How did you motivate yourself at that point of time?

JA: Actually, after getting dropped, I started to work more than any other time. My playing career is 17 years and seven months as of this July. In between, I have served the national team for 15 and a half years since 2008. Actually, I had to work double time to make a return to the national team after getting dropped from the side. I can say I was successful. Before starting the Premier League this year, I worked so hard. I always thought positively in order to get good feedback.

I always thought that I need to be ready for every possible chance so that when it arrives, I can cash on the opportunity. I always make myself prepared to play at any level so that when they need me, I can feel that I'm ready. I trained at Masco [Academy] for around nine months. I was admitted there in September and started my training. The coaching staff including Mohammad Salahuddin sir, Zico bhai and Mostakim sir helped me a lot so that I can return to my best. They gave me enough facilities like practicing at the centre wickets, working on spot bowling, match-situation bowling and also provided new balls for practicing every single day. Salahuddin sir always tried to manage Kookaburra balls for me during practice. I can say that I got a great practice facility over there and also I had also worked really hard.

I received the outcome of my hard training days during the Premier League where I was able to deliver a good performance. You can say that this performance helped me to get into the national team once again. Now, I will try to replicate the same in the national team upon my getting opportunity.

DS: Can you be more specific about your double hard work? Like what are the changes that we made from the past like your food habits, fitness and others?

JA: Actually I had to change my whole procedure. I changed my food habits in the meantime. I couldn't eat boiled food as my stomach didn't suit them. I tried to eat boiled food. I made a new habit of eating air-fried chicken. Actually I have totally changed my food habit. Meanwhile, it's not easy to go to Masco [academy] everyday. I went there four to five days in a week. In fact, during the last Ramadan, Masco was open until 26 Ramandan and I bowled for 10 overs, eight overs, six overs and four overs while fasting 24 out of these 26 days. I also did batting training over there. In fact, I also did fielding and fitness trainings and did my running and gym sessions at the BCB and Masco. Whenever I need any vehicle support like bike, Uber or CNG, I avail that in order to continue my training at Masco which is far from Mirpur. It was really tough for me but I took the challenge and got some of the benefits for sure. I'm not fully satisfied yet. The main target is still to achieve.

DS: Are you looking to maintain the staff in the coming days as well?

JA: We, the sportsperson all over the world, know very well that fitness comes before skill. We know that we need 70 percent mental fitness, 10 percent skill and the rest 20 percent is physical fitness. Overall, if you aren't physically fit, you can't be mentally fit. So the 20 percent physical fitness will give your 70 percent mental fitness support. I think I'm a fitness freak. I have been serving the national team for a long time but still I'm injury free despite being a pacer. In 2020, I bowled at a speed of 120kmph. During the 2022 World Cup, I had my last pace measurement where my pace was reduced to 116kmph. Now, I believe that my pace has been increased once again and hopefully I will get my pace measured again in the coming days. Everyone has also given me the same observation as well.

It's a motivation for me that my pace didn't decrease. I think my fitness helped me a lot in this regard. I focused more on running, power training and strength training in order to go ahead. I am still working on my hydration level maintenance, sleeping time and food and I think it has helped me a lot.

DS: Coming back to this camp, what were the areas the team were focusing on?

JA: During this camp, we tried to work more on our batting department as we couldn't have done well in the past. We know that if we can showcase better batting performances, it will help our bowlers to defend the decent total. Actually we have worked on different areas and now execution is the most important thing. I hope that like the 2018 Asia Cup, all of us will make small contributions. I have faith in all of our players. Hopefully, all three departments will be able to deliver good performance in the middle.

DS: How do you see the team's overall preparation building up to the T20 World Cup?

JA: After the Asia Cup, we will play in the NCL. Hopefully, we will have a good preparation over there as well as there will be eight teams and we will get seven matches to play. I hope everyone will get the proper opportunity to play competitive matches. The following tournament will be the T20 World Cup, I think preparation wise we are getting enough matches.

DS: Last question, how much is the pressure [about the T20 World Cup]?

JA: I think there will definitely be pressure. Expectations will be high. There will be family members, fans and followers who will expect good results from us. We will also try to give positive results to them. But it will depend on how good we are playing on that particular day. We are still very positive as a unit and hopefully, we will do well in the tournament.