Bangladesh women’s team captain Nigar Sultana has responded to the allegations made by pacer Jahanara Alam, who accused her of physically assaulting junior players in the team. Jahanara, who last played for Bangladesh in 2024, claimed that Sultana had beaten up her teammates. “This is nothing new. Joty beats up the juniors a lot,” Alam told Bangladesh daily Kaler Kantho. However, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) strongly refuted the allegations, saying that they have full trust in Sultana, the players, and the management.
Sultana has finally responded to the allegations, but with a rather cheeky jibe against India’s World Cup-winning captain Harmanpreet Kaur.
“Why would I hit anyone? I mean, why would I strike the stumps with my bat? Am I Harmanpreet, that I would go around hitting the stumps like that? Why would I do it? In my personal space, if I’m cooking or something, I might bang my bat around, I might hit my helmet – that’s my own business,” Joty said in an interview with Daily Cricket.
“But why would I do something like that to someone else? Why would I get physical? Just because someone says so? You can ask the other players or anyone else whether I’ve ever done anything like that,” she added.
The incident Joty is referring to took place during India’s tour of Bangladesh in 2023. In the third and final ODI, Harmanpreet hit the stumps and directed some angry words towards the umpire after she was adjudged leg before wicket.
After Bangladesh set India a 226-run target, India were all out for 225 in 49.3 overs. As a result, the teams shared the trophy after a 1-1 series draw.
Harmanpreet even showed a thumbs-up to the celebrating crowd. She was later banned for two matches.