If cricket needs to grow, it shall make its reach to the masses. We, at Female Cricket, have been reiterating these lines for ages and our commitment to the development of the game has grown over time. Traditionally, the game has been kept in the clutches of orthodoxies.
Bangladesh women’s cricketer Sanjida Islam is the recent recipient of these adversaries. In her wedding photoshoot, she was seen wearing a traditional saree. The most iconic of these photographs related to her batting. Her wedding photograph as a cricketer went viral over the Internet. She was even spotted by ICC on social media.
Dress ✅
Jewellery ✅
Cricket bat ✅Wedding photoshoots for cricketers be like … 👌
📸 🇧🇩 Sanjida Islam pic.twitter.com/57NSY6vRgU
— ICC (@ICC) October 21, 2020
The response to her wedding photograph has been positive mostly but like everything on social media, there are users spreading negativity as well. Sanjida seems to have noticed these reactions. She said that “Some pictures of my wedding ceremony have gone viral through mainstream media and social media. But what is there to criticize?”.
Mim Mosaddek, who tied the knot with Sanjida, looks unaffected by the hate on social media. The 23-year old batter takes no negativity seriously. While talking to The Daily Star, he says that “Some pictures of Sanjida wearing a sari have gone viral. Most people took it positively but some have taken it negatively. My response is, it is not a headache of mine and I don’t care about it”.
Wedding Photoshoot for Bangladesh cricketer Sanjida Islam 😍 pic.twitter.com/8TuwTaGo1A
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) October 21, 2020
It is interesting to note that Sobhana Mostary and Hasnat Cynthia were the wedding photographers. Sobhana is the youngest member of Bangladesh women’s national side while Hasnat plays for Bangladesh A. Sanjida accepts that the responses left her and the family upset.
She said “We have started a new life. We expect blessings and good wishes from everyone but some people on social media have made some bad comments which have caused some trouble on my new journey. It made me and my groom’s family upset. Relatives in my father-in-law’s house were shocked but I told them that no matter what you do, some people will always criticize you over and over. See, many have praised it too”.
Sanjida’s father-in-law or Mosaddek’s father is a religious person and was reluctant about accepting a cricketer as her daughter-in-law. With the help of his mother, Mosaddek won over the heart of his father.
He said that “My father is a very religious man. At first, he objected a little bit [to her continuing to play cricket] but my mother explained to him that if I could play cricket as their son, then why not the son’s wife? My father then agreed to support Sanjida in her cricket career”.
While the story ends with a good end, there is learning for all. One must not fall to the clutches of Orthodoxy.
A student who enjoys studying cricket more than anything else, keen to learn the insights of the women’s game.