 "Nigar Sultana walks with Harmanpreet Kaur during their ICC Women's World Cup 2025 match. Image: AFP")
Bangladesh women’s cricket captain Nigar Sultana Joty has denied allegations that she physically assaulted junior players in the national team. While defending herself, she also took a jibe at India captain Harmanpreet Kaur, referring to the old controversy from India’s 2023 tour of Bangladesh.
The issue began after senior Bangladesh pacer Jahanara Alam recently claimed in an interview that Nigar had physically abused younger players in the side and had even beaten up some of them. Jahanara, who is currently living in Australia, said junior players contacted her and asked for help.
Nigar takes a jibe at Harmanpreet
Reacting to these allegations, Nigar told Daily Cricket that the claims were false and even questioned why she was being dragged into it. This is when she brought up Harmanpreet’s name and suggested she is not like her Indian counterpart by bringing up an old controversy from July 2023.
The Indian captain broke the stumps with her bat in frustration after being given out LBW in a match against Bangladesh two years ago. She criticised the umpires and called the umpiring “pathetic” in her post-match interview. Because of this, Harmanpreet was suspended for two matches.
“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. 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,” Nigar said.
She also questioned why the juniors would call someone living abroad instead of reporting the issue to the team management. “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.’" she said.
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View All“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?" Nigar added.
“What I mean is, if this player had a problem, why would she call Jahanara apu all the way in Australia? She could’ve shared it with anyone here,” she concluded. Nigar recently led her country in the ICC Women’s World Cup 2025, which was won by Harmanpreet’s India, while Bangladesh even failed to qualify for the knockouts.
Jahanara, on the other hand, has not played for Bangladesh since December 2024. She also claimed in another interview that a former selector misbehaved with her and alleged that a couple of other officials acted inappropriately with her. The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has launched an investigation into the allegations.