Sakeena Akther, the first woman cricket coach in Kashmir, shares why she chose the sport over a conventional life in the Valley.

Interviewed by Tahir Ibn Manzoor for Dafanews

Sakeena Akhter picked up a cricket bat for the first time at the age of 12. Today, at 37, she is coaching men’s and women’s team in Kashmir for national-level cricket tournaments.

“I grew up playing with my neighbours in the streets,” Sakeena told Dafa News in an exclusive interview.

That and a whole lot of resilience.

“The wicket was a burnt wooden electric pole—the burn mark was considered as the bails,” recalls Sakeena who was often the only girl playing with the boys in her town of Munawarabad, Kashmir.

“I fought with them, snatched bats, cheated while batting—that’s how I learnt the sport.”

Sakeena remembers being beaten black and blue when she was spotted playing cricket once by her uncle. She still continued to play, sometimes hiding it from her parents, and on other occasions, convincing them that a sports certificate would eventually get her admission in the medical college. Her eyes were, however, set on a spot in the national women’s cricket team.

The insurgency in the Valley ended that dream for Sakeena but the love for the game did not dim. “There has always been a dearth of practice grounds here but due to militancy, the conditions became even worse,” she says.

After completing her studies, she became one of the first women in the Valley and one of the 44 from across Asia to be selected for admission into the prestigious National Institute of Sports, at Patiala.

Photo supplied by: Tahir Ibn Manzoor

“I was surprised to find how sports had such a different meaning in other parts of the country. I wanted to bring that change to Kashmir too.” Upon returning, she began to work with the J&K Sports Council to improve the representation of women in cricket and looked for talent across Kashmir’s small towns and villages of Kashmir.

“I wanted to continue playing the sport though and when the opportunity to coach kids in the Valley came along, I left my job and took it up full time. In my first camp, I had to train 400 boys from different schools. It was a difficult experience and I wasn’t satisfied with my effort then.”

Sakeena has since coached various school, colleges and university teams to play at national level competitions, and they’ve had many wins too. She now wants to improve the facilities for sports in the state, especially the availability of better practice grounds. She believes that Kashmir has immense potential and just needs the facilities to improve its representation on the larger field.

“In sports, it is not about your gender or what region you come from—it is only about your passion. Sometimes we should not accept what’s being told to us. When we are sure we can do something, then we should do our best to achieve it. I did that and am now ensuring that political conditions or societal pressures do not thwart more dreams in the Valley.”