Bangladesh women’s captain Nigar Sultana Joty has firmly responded to the allegations of physical assault made by senior pacer Jahanara Alam, rejecting the claims and taking a pointed swipe at India’s World Cup-winning captain Harmanpreet Kaur while defending herself.
The issue escalated after Jahanara, who is currently based in Australia, stated that junior cricketers had contacted her alleging that Joty had hit them. This controversy arrives on the back of Bangladesh’s disappointing Women’s World Cup 2025 campaign, where they managed just one win—against Pakistan in Colombo—while India went on to win the trophy after beating South Africa at the Dr DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai.
Meanwhile, uncertainty between the two cricket boards has grown further with India’s December white-ball series against Bangladesh—three ODIs and three T20Is—likely to be postponed due to diplomatic tensions between the governments. The situation has added another layer of instability around Bangladesh cricket at a time when even the national women’s team is dealing with internal allegations and strained relationships.
Joty began her response by stating she had no reason to harm anyone and questioned why the allegation surfaced in the first place, “Why would I hit anyone?”
She then referred to the 2023 India–Bangladesh incident, where Harmanpreet smashed the stumps after an LBW decision and criticised the umpiring, “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?”
Joty followed by explaining that she might show frustration in her own space, but never towards a teammate, “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.”
She then returned to the main allegation, “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.
Jahanara had said juniors contacted her from Bangladesh with their complaints. Joty argued that if anything genuine had occurred, they could have reached out to officials in Bangladesh rather than someone in another country.
She challenged the reasoning behind it by saying, “What I mean is, if this player had a problem, why would she call Jahanara apu all the way in Australia?”
She ended by adding, “She could’ve shared it with anyone here.”
With both players presenting conflicting accounts, the rift has raised serious questions about the environment within Bangladesh women’s cricket. Whether the matter escalates or is resolved internally, the incident has exposed an uncomfortable level of tension at a time when the team is already under pressure on and off the field.
(Quotes sourced from the Daily Cricket)
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