New Delhi, Jul 13 (IANS): Bangladesh pacer Jahanara Alam, who was recalled for the upcoming Women's Asia Cup, credited the hard work she has put in the last nine months for earning a spot back in the side. The fast bowler said she was prepared to don the national jersey again and was waiting to grab the opportunity.
Jahanara last played for Bangladesh in the three-match away T20I series against Sri Lanka in May last year. She earned a recall at the back of her commanding performance in the Dhaka Premier League as she ended the tournament as the highest wicket-taker with 25 scalps.
The 31-year-old highlighted the contribution of renowned coach Mohammad Salahuddin, who worked with her extensively at the Masco Cricket Academy since her absence from the national side, for the revival of her international career.
"Alhamdulillah, I have returned to the national team after a long year and all the praise goes to Allah and during this one year I have trained at Masco academy for nine months. Sheikh Salauddin sir and other coaching staff who were there have worked really hard with me and have tried to improve my performance," Jahanara said in a statement provided by BCB on Friday.
"In fact, in every moment I have tried to be prepared so that whenever the call comes from the women's national team I can grab the opportunity," she said.
"In the last Premier League (Dhaka Premier Division Women's Cricket League) I have shown a good performance as well and you can say it was the result of the long training I have done for nine months. So, overall the feeling is really good as I will be able to represent Bangladesh once again," she added.
Salahuddin said he worked on increasing Jaharana's pace to make her fit for the international level during her time at Masco Academy.
"No one can raise question about her dedication level because she used to visit here [Masco Academy] regularly though it is far from Dhaka and she did all these things as she wanted to do something better," he told Cricbuzz.
"Actually we tried to increase her pace because the pace she was bowling didn't look good enough to be effective at the international level,"
"We also tried to provide her with a better game plan so that the ball is more effective and emphasised on the tactical side of her bowling," he added.
The coach further said Jahanara's sheer dedication made it possible to speed up his balls with a little modification to her bowling action.
"Normally it is difficult to increase pace if someone lost it. But through sheer hard work she managed to do that and could understand what needs to be done to generate pace," Salahuddin said.
"We tried to remodel her action a bit so that she can generate more pace because with her previous action, it was difficult for her to generate pace by bowling with that action," he added.
Jahanara went on to say that she places a high value on her fitness because she knows it's one thing that can have a lasting impact. They also want to make a big impression at the next Asia Cup.
"Our first aim is to reach the semi-final and there is an equation that if we can play the semi-final as the champion of the group stage in that case we might get Pakistan and that is likely to be an easier opponent and we are trying to do that," said the former national captain.
Bangladesh are placed with Sri Lanka, Thailand and Malaysia in Group B while India, Pakistan, Nepal and UAE are drawn in Group A. The top two teams from each group will play in the semi-finals on July 26 while the final will be played on July 28.
Bangladesh will take on Sri Lanka on July 20, followed by matches against Thailand and Malaysia on July 22 and 24, respectively.