Bangladesh women’s captain targeted Harmanpreet Kaur as she responded to the physical assault allegations made by Jahanara Alam.
Bangladesh women’s captain Nigar Sultana Joty has finally responded to the allegations of physically assaulting junior cricketers within the team. The wicketkeeper-batter took a dig at the Women’s World Cup-winning captain Harmanpreet Kaur during the same time as she seemingly referenced the row involving the Indian skipper during India’s tour of Bangladesh in 2023. It is worth mentioning that in that series, Harmanpreet had smashed the stumps with her bat in frustration after being adjudged leg before wicket.
She later labelled the umpiring “pathetic” during the post-match presentation and even taunted the Bangladesh players during the trophy photo session.
Returning to Sultana, the Bangladesh captain finds herself in the midst of a huge controversy after pacer Jaharanara Alam claimed that Joty misbehaved with junior players in the team, even going so far as to hit them.
“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,” Joty said in an interview with Daily Cricket.
“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.
Serious allegations against Joty
Joty had recently led in the Women’s World Cup 2025, where India eventually won the tournament by beating South Africa in the summit clash at the Dr DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai. Bangladesh managed just a solitary win in the tournament, defeating Pakistan in Colombo.
In her interview with Riasad Azim, Jahanara, who is currently residing in Australia, revealed that junior cricketers had called her, claiming they had been hit by Joty. However, this claim was denied by the Bangladesh captain, who said that juniors would have reported the incident to higher officials if it had actually happened, rather than phoning someone living abroad.
“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?” she questioned.
