Bisma Amjad plays cricket. She aspires to play internationally and was picked for the national under-19 World Cup squad.
But when the pandemic came, because she was a woman, there was nowhere for her to practise, so she dressed as a man to play alongside male cricketers at “gully cricket” — the street game.
“Boys used to play gully-cricket even during the pandemic,” she says. “But the movement of girls was restricted, so we couldn’t play at all. I had no option but to dress like a man and practise with them,” says Amjad, 19, who has bowled at first-class and regional matches.
In traditional circles in Karachi, Amjad hears constant comments such as “your skin will turn darker” or “it is a boys’ game and you are wasting your time. Do a course that will help you after marriage.”
She says that many girls from conservative families or rural areas dress like boys so they can play cricket without being noticed.
“A friend of mine has chopped her hair off so she could go and play without being known as she is a girl,” says Amjad. “Women who play sport have to struggle a lot in our society.”
Amjad’s father supported her and drove her to matches but when he became ill she had to stop playing for a few months. “After my father recovered and I got his permission, I learned to ride a bike so I could commute on my own,” she says.
Cycling brought its own problems. “Men would say ‘look, look, she is riding a bike. She used to wear a headscarf, what happened to her?’” she says.
Fiddling with a cricket ball, she says: “I give my savings to my parents to show that I earn some money. I keep telling them, give me a few months more, I will prove it.”
They have now given her one year to break into the national team or else drop cricket.
Amjad was chosen for the under-19 squad to play the World Cup in 2021, but it was cancelled due to the pandemic, and now she has to keep playing first-class cricket to have any hope of making the national team.
Cricket is the most widely played and watched sport in Pakistan. But not women’s cricket. Excitement is building for the start of the seventh season of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) on 27 January.
The league hosts six teams from different parts of Pakistan and promotes cricket, helps male players earn a living and a place in the national team.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has yet to propose a time frame for the women’s league it had promised three years ago. The chairman, Ramiz Raja, has confirmed that there will be one.
The news has delighted the Pakistan women’s cricket captain, Javeria Khan. “That is very welcoming since it would encourage more women to play cricket,” she says, adding: “Men have a lot of such tournaments where they can show their talents but women do not have such opportunities.
“Here, a woman has to work twice as hard as a man to prove her talent,” she says. “Gender discrimination exists all over the world, but in Asia, the issue is more rampant.”
— This report first appeared in the Guardian and is funded by support provided by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
