Nuzhat Parween

Nuzhat Parween (born 5 September 1996) is an Indian cricketer who plays as a wicket-keeper. Domestically, she plays for Railways in the Women's Senior One Day Trophy and Women's Senior T20 Trophy. A multi-talented athlete, she is a former football captain of the Madhya Pradesh under-16 football team, she joined Singrauli's district cricket team in 2011.

Early life Nuzhat is the daughter of Masih Alam and Nasima Begum. She has four siblings - elder brother Aamir Sohail, elder sister Nemat Parween, younger sister Aasiyah Parween and younger brother Ayan Ashraf Sohail. She now plays for Railways.

Nuzhat played gully cricket with her schoolmates from childhood. Before getting into cricket, she represented Madhya Pradesh in football Nationals and was a gold medalist in state athletics (100 m). Her family was quite supportive of her sports activities, but she faced societal pressure. According to Nuzhat, this changed after her participation in the 2017 World Cup.

Nuzhat is the first Indian player to make it to the national team within just five years.

Her journey in cricket started in 2011 when a women's team for an inter-district tournament was formed in Singrauli, and the administration did not have enough players. Nuzhat who was a junior national football player then, was invited to be part of the team. She started out as a wicket-keeper, in the inter-district cricket competition, representing the Singrauli team. Based on her performance, she was given a special place in Madhya Pradesh's Under-19 Women's Cricket Team. She would travel by bus from Singrauli to Rewa, nine hours by road, for 15–20 days in 3 months to practice under her coach.

She made her Women's One Day International cricket (WODI) debut against Ireland in the 2017 South Africa Quadrangular Series on 15 May 2017.

Parween was part of the Indian squad to reach the final of the 2017 Women's Cricket World Cup where the team lost to England by nine runs.

On her return to Singrauli, she was received at the train station by a big crowd of people, including a group of children, DCA Singrauli members, media, and her family. She credits fellow cricketer Haripriya Das, who guided her through her journey.