The 2026 Girls’s Asia Cup is already underway and Bangladesh enter the event with a well-known alternative – to check themselves in opposition to the very best in Asia and, doubtlessly, India.For Sobhana Mostary, nevertheless, the Asia Cup carries a significance that goes properly past the matches forward. Six years after Bangladesh’s historic triumph in 2018, the reminiscences of that marketing campaign stay deeply related to how she views the event and the expansion of ladies’s cricket in her nation.Bangladesh ladies’s cricket has come a great distance since its historic victory over India within the 2018 Girls’s Asia Cup, a victory that Sobhana Mostary believes reworked the character of the game in her nation.For Mostary, the 2018 triumph stays a defining second for Bangladesh ladies’s cricket.“After 2018, we beat India and received the Asia Cup, so it was an enormous change in Bangladesh ladies’s cricket. Every little thing modified. They began giving us a lot of amenities, cash, the whole lot. There was a number of change,” Mostary instructed TimesofIndia.com in an unique interplay forward of the Girls’s Asia Cup 2026.Of their 2018 marketing campaign, Bangladesh beat India twice within the event, together with a seven-wicket win within the group stage, earlier than defeating the defending champions by three wickets in an exciting closing in Kuala Lumpur to win their maiden Girls’s Asia Cup title. The ultimate went all the way down to the final ball, with Jahanara Alam finishing the profitable two runs as Bangladesh chased down India’s 112/9.The affect was speedy. Bangladesh Cricket Board introduced a Bangladeshi Taka 2 crore reward for the victorious ladies’s crew. For Mostary, the legacy of that victory stays related even years later.“We expect this Asia Cup, we battle for the title, as a result of if we beat India, so possibly we personal the Asia Cup,” she stated.Now, as Bangladesh put together for an additional Asia Cup marketing campaign, Mostary is aware of the problem is totally different. Bangladesh are in Group B alongside Sri Lanka, Indonesia and the UAE, whereas India are in Group A with Pakistan, Thailand and Hong Kong. A gathering between the 2 sides can solely come within the knockout stage.
From a village academy to worldwide cricket
Mostary’s personal journey started far-off from the worldwide highlight. She began enjoying a number of sports activities as a baby, together with soccer, badminton and cricket. On the age of 10, her father took her to a cricket academy in her village. After round six months of coaching, she attended a trial carried out by the Bangladesh Krira Shiksha Pratisthan (BKSP) and was chosen.That choice modified the course of her life. Mostary moved to Dhaka with out her dad and mom to pursue cricket. Her worldwide debut got here remarkably early. She was simply 16 years outdated when she first performed for Bangladesh.However making her debut didn’t instantly translate into an everyday place within the XI. Mostary recalled spending the subsequent three to three-and-a-half years travelling with the Bangladesh crew with out getting constant alternatives to play.“It was very tough. I at all times travelled with the crew, however could not play. I simply waited and thought that sometime the chance would come and I may present my power, ” she stated.
‘Day-to-day, I enhance’
The endurance finally started to repay. The ICC described Mostary as a brilliant future prospect in 2023, however the batter believes she continues to be working in direction of fulfilling that potential.“I do not assume I’ve fulfilled my dream and that brilliant future but, however daily, I enhance, ” she stated.
Harmanpreet Kaur : The childhood idol
Apparently, one in all Mostary’s greatest inspirations comes from throughout the border. Her childhood idol is Harmanpreet Kaur, the India captain whose batting left an enduring impression on her as a younger cricketer from Bangladesh. Mostary particularly recalled watching Harmanpreet’s memorable 2017 Girls’s World Cup innings in opposition to Australia, when the Indian batter smashed an unbeaten 171.“That match impressed me rather a lot, I adopted her batting, the whole lot how she controls the match, and now the time how she captains. I simply adopted the whole lot, ” Mostary admitted.Enjoying India, in truth, stays one thing she describes as thrilling somewhat than intimidating.“For Bangladeshi followers, enjoying India is an excellent match. They’re loopy followers and plenty of supporters come to observe. It’s a regular match, however usually enjoying India may be very attention-grabbing and at all times very thrilling for us,” she added.Mostary additionally has a specific appreciation for India’s bowling assault. Requested which Indian bowler she want to face, she picked Deepti Sharma, praising the all-rounder’s consistency and selection.“Deepti Sharma is at all times the highest bowler within the Indian facet, she has performed persistently for thus a few years and improved daily. I really like her bowling, ” Mostary stated.
A session with Laura Wolvaardt
Whereas Harmanpreet stays her childhood idol, Mostary has one other participant she would love to coach with, South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt.“I wish to practise with Laura Wolvaardt, I actually like her batting, and she or he’s additionally a great human being,” she stated.
Cricket over medication
There was a time when cricket was not even Mostary’s first profession selection. Requested what she may need accomplished had she not pursued cricket, she revealed that changing into a health care provider was a chance.“Possibly a health care provider, as a result of my mom wished me to be a health care provider,” she stated.As a substitute, the 16-year-old who as soon as left residence to pursue cricket has now spent years representing Bangladesh on the worldwide stage.“I struggled for 3 or 4 years, however now I’ve improved,” she stated.And with India as soon as once more standing in Bangladesh’s path, Mostary is aware of precisely what one other victory may imply.(Watch DP World Girls’s Asia dwell on Sony Sports activities Ten 1 SD & HD & Sony LIV.)
