'Am I Harmanpreet Kaur?': Bangladesh captain's shocking response to physical assault allegations on juniors

Bangladesh captain takes dig at India captain Harmanpreet Kaur. (Photo: X)

Bangladesh women’s cricket team captain Nigar Sultana Joty took a sly dig at India women's team captain Harmanpreet Kaur while responding to allegations that she had physically assaulted junior cricketers in the past. Veteran pacer Jahanrana Alam in an interview with journalist Riasad Azim made claims that Joty had physically assaulted junior players and misbehaved with them.

Joty gave reference of Kaur due to the controversial 2023 tour of Bangladesh where she smashed the stumps with her bat after getting out. She even labelled the umpiring "pathetic" during the post-match presser and allegedly taunted the Bangladeshi players during the photo session with trophy.

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“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. 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,” Joty said in an interview with Daily Cricket.

In an interview with Riasad Azim, Jahanara, who is currently based in Australia, claimed that several junior players had contacted her, alleging that Joty had physically assaulted them. Joty dismissed the accusation, arguing that if anything like that had actually happened, the younger players would have informed the team management rather than reaching out to someone living overseas.

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“The way I’ve been described in front of everyone — I’m not that kind of girl at all. First I heard that Jahanara apu has made an allegation about me, saying that someone called her in Australia and said, ‘Please save us, Jyoti apu is beating us and finishing us off.’

“What I’m trying to say is: someone who hasn’t been here for six or seven years and has gone off to Australia — if I really beat someone or harmed someone in any way, is there no team management, no manager, no coaching staff? Am I the ultimate authority then?

"What I mean is, if this player had a problem, why would she call Jahanara apu all the way in Australia? She could’ve shared it with anyone here,” Joty added.

Joty recently captained Bangladesh in the Women’s World Cup, where the team managed just one victory, defeating Pakistan in Colombo. Although they put up tough fights against both South Africa and Sri Lanka, Bangladesh failed to close out those matches after faltering under pressure. Joty also endured a difficult tournament herself, scoring only 157 runs in seven games, averaging 22.42 with a strike rate of 57.50.