Jahanara Alam

Jahanara Alam (; born 1 April 1993) is a Bangladeshi cricketer who plays for the Bangladesh women's national cricket team. She is a right-arm medium pace bowler and right-handed batter. She was a member of the team that won a silver medal in cricket against China at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China.

Early life Alam was born and raised in Khulna, where she attended Pioneer Girls High School. By 2007, the year she was in sixth standard, she was playing both handball and volleyball for her school. She lived some distance away, and travelled there by rickshaw, a trip that would take about 40 to 50 minutes.

Alam's interest in sports then attracted the attention of Sheikh Salahuddin, a player and coach of the Khulna Division men's cricket team, who lived opposite the school. Unlike the other school girls, who wore shalwar kameez, Alam would make her rickshaw trip to school in sports attire. Salauddin spotted her on some of her rickshaw journeys, and eventually asked her whether she wanted to play cricket. She immediately agreed.

At that time, Alam was not a follower of cricket, and did not understand the rules. However, she was told that Bangladesh would soon have a national women's team, and that was an incentive for her to try out. and she had always been fit. "When I was selected for Bangladesh, I had to ask my father whether I should play or do my exams?" she has said. in the 47th over, a feat that caused quite a stir:

"... there was a lot of buzz around. My picture was there in the first page of the newspaper and from then onwards, people’s perception started changing. They called me the pride of Khulna, the pride of Bangladesh." Later the same month, she was named in Bangladesh's squad for the 2018 ICC Women's World Twenty20 Qualifier tournament.

On 28 June 2018, she became the first bowler for Bangladesh to take a five-wicket haul in WT20Is, in a match against Ireland.

In October 2018, she was named in Bangladesh's squad for the 2018 ICC Women's World Twenty20 tournament in the West Indies. She was the joint-leading wicket-taker for Bangladesh in the tournament, with six dismissals in four matches. Following the conclusion of the tournament, she was named as the standout player in the team by the International Cricket Council (ICC).

In August 2019, she was named in Bangladesh's squad for the 2019 ICC Women's World Twenty20 Qualifier tournament in Scotland. In November 2019, she was named in Bangladesh's squad for the cricket tournament at the 2019 South Asian Games. The Bangladesh team beat Sri Lanka by two runs in the final to win the gold medal. In January 2020, she was named in Bangladesh's squad for the 2020 ICC Women's T20 World Cup in Australia.

In November 2021, she was named in Bangladesh's team for the 2021 Women's Cricket World Cup Qualifier tournament in Zimbabwe. In January 2022, she was named as one of three reserve players in Bangladesh's team for the 2022 Commonwealth Games Cricket Qualifier tournament in Malaysia. Later the same month, she was named in Bangladesh's team for the 2022 Women's Cricket World Cup in New Zealand.

She was named in the Bangladesh squad for the 2024 ICC Women's T20 World Cup.

In January 2025, she took an indefinite break from international cricket, later attributing her decision to an abusive national team environment.