Anisa Mohammad: The cricketer who refused to give up

The unusualness begins at the start of the run-up. The run-up starts with a jump. No other bowler does that in international cricket. With quick strides, she comes closer to the stumps. All this in a rhythm and as she approaches the bowling crease, her right shoulder, the bowling arm, gets loaded. It is not a completely high-arm action as the shoulder goes wide of the body. With an effort jerk, she delivers the ball which of course is difficult for the batsmen to cope up with.

Except for that jump in the beginning, everything flows smoothly. The body is balanced, head still and both arms in sync. A perfect bowling action, when you subtract that unconventional jump. This is Anisa Mohammad, West Indies’ off-spin bowler. Like her bowling action, her cricket career too is a perfect except a little unconventional twist.

Most women cricketers have a familiar start to their careers. They begin their cricket by competing with the boys and impressing their local coaches by dominating the boys. After the early success, they are asked up to give up cricket and focus on other things as women cricket has no future, but these determined women passionately play the game and rise above the ranks.

Anisa’s story also begins with competing against the boys and her school teacher telling her to focus on studies as girls don’t play cricket. But Anisa defied her teacher’s advice and in large portion thanks to her parents who have cricket running in their veins. Her father Imtiaz was a club cricketer while her mother represented a local club in soft-ball cricket.

Support from the family when the outside world protested their passion for cricket is something that happened with most women cricketers. But Anisa’s story has a twist.

In a Hindu school in Trinidad and Tobago, she was a Muslim girl and that made things difficult for her. Fighting gender discrimination is one thing and challenging religious regulations is a completely different one. And this young cricketer from Trinidad and Tobago had to fight against the impositions her religion had on women to cherish her dream of playing cricket.

But she succeeded. Not only in bending the rules of religion but also in rising through the ranks and forcing the national selectors to take note of her performances.

Anisa Mohammed wasn’t a bowler to start with

For a young Anisa, the dream was to play cricket. That’s all. She hadn’t thought of any specialisation. She was willing to do anything as long as she was a part of the game. The first time she held a hard cricket ball, she realised it was heavier than the softball she used to play with and hence it would need more effort to bowl. She wasn’t thinking of off-spin or leg-spin. All she was focusing on was bowling with effort.

She went to the Under 23 national trials as a wicket-keeper but was disillusioned when she saw five other girls competing for the same spot and thus decided to bowl. It was a big risk but it paid off. She was selected as a bowler and ended the tournament as the highest wicket-taker and also had the best average.

Had it not been for those five girls at the under 23 trials, Anisa may have entered the field for the rest of her life with wicket-keeping gloves in hands.

Her heroics in the under 23 tournament didn’t go unnoticed. The selectors included her in the national team as a reserve. But again something unconventional happened. A member of the team got injured just three days before their scheduled departure for the World Cup qualifiers and Anisa was asked to join the team.

That was 2003 and 14 years later, Anisa is still a part of the West Indies cricket team.

Anisa Mohammed helped West Indies to the World T20 title in 2016

April 03, 2016. Carlos Braithwaite smashed four consecutive sixes at Eden Gardens, Kolkata and enabled West Indies to win the World T20 tournament. Earlier that day, at the same venue Hayley Matthews and Stafanie Taylor’s hundred run partnership, had ended Australia’s dominance in Women’s World T20 and the West Indies women’s team won their maiden World T20 championship title.

The victories were followed by crazy celebrations and numerous success stories reflecting the struggle and relentless passion of the West Indies women cricket team. It was an emotional and proud moment for the island nation which they cherished for several days. But during these wild celebrations, one important milestone achieved by a West Indies cricketer went unnoticed.

The off-spinner, Anisa during the tournament picked up her 100^th wicket in T20 internationals. The enormity of this achievement can be understood from the fact that no cricketer, male or female before Anisa was able to achieve this milestone. Shahid Afridi the highest wicket taker in men’s cricket has 97 scalps in 98 games while Anisa captured her 100^th victim in her 81^st game.

The off-spinner is also the only women cricketer to have two five-wicket hauls in T20 cricket. At 28, she has 104 wickets in T20Is and 136 wickets in ODIs that too at a staggering average of 15.49 and 18.91 respectively. Currently, she is one of the senior most players in her team and in West Indies is seen as an idol for young women cricketers.

For a girl who couldn’t afford a new pair of shoes to practice cricket, these achievements are commendable. But her story is not just another rag to riches sports success story. Like that jump in her bowling action, her story has an unconventional twist as well.

From battling with regulations laid down by religion to surviving 14 years in cricket representing a country whose cricket board is full of malfunctions to quitting wicket-keeping to earning 100 wickets in T20Is, Anisa represents unparallel resilience and undying passion for the game.