Anju Jain – the Indian who helped Bangladesh dethrone India in Women's Asia Cup

Harmanpreet strikes twice. She picks two wickets in consecutive balls. Bangladesh now need two off the final over.

India women have never lost an Asia Cup final.

Bangladesh women have never won a major title.

History either would repeat itself or a new chapter would open in women’s cricket.

Harmanpreet bowls the final ball, Bangladesh’s Jahanara Alam hooks it to deep midwicket, the two batters are “scrambling with all their might, putting every ounce of their energy and channeling their inner Usain Bolts. A dive is put in, the dive of glory, and the cup is theirs!” one of the commentaries read on the phone.

It was heartbreak for the Indians but the result came as a new ray of hope in the Asian tournament, which has been royally dominated by Team India. Since the inception of Asia Cup in 2004, no team had managed to beat India, a record that was no more on Sunday. Salma Khatun’s women finally ended six-time champion, India’s reign with a three-wicket victory in Kuala Lumpur. Co-incidentally, the woman behind India’s loss and Bangladesh’s rise is also an Indian – Bangla Women’s head coach and former Indian captain, Anju Jain. She took over Bangladesh Women earlier in May, in the quest to qualify for the World T20.

She certainly has started the process for the same in the team with their first major title, Asia Cup. Since the format of the tournament was also T20, the win will be a huge boost for Bangladesh ahead of the World T20 qualifiers, that are scheduled to commence in July.

Although Bangladesh have beaten higher-ranked teams like Pakistan, South Africa and Sri Lanka across the limited-overs formats in the past, defeating six-time champion India, that too twice in the same tournament, was a bigger deal for the No. 10 T20I side Bangladesh.

With Anju in the camp, Bangladesh are more likely to evolve giving the same tough fights to superior teams in the coming months. Till date, Anju is considered as one of the finest wicketkeepers India have had. In her career, which lasted for 12 long years, she played eight Tests and 65 ODIs. For the standard of run scoring during her playing years, her average of 29.91 in the ODIs can be considered above average. She still remains in the top-five of the runs chart for Indian Women with 441 runs in 65 ODIs and holds the record for the most dismissals for India with 81 dismissals (30 catches and 51 stumpings).

Apparently, after her retirement, the Indian team struggled for years to find a suitable replacement; in the next 10 years, India would go on to have eight wicketkeepers in 105 matches.

While women’s cricket is not much associated with power hitting but rather with intelligent placements, Anju was among those rare faces in the Indian camp known for her powerful striking of the ball. She was famous for striking the ball as hard as anyone in that business and her favorite area was the ‘v’ between mid-off and mid-wicket and on any given situation, she did not hesitate to take the aerial route.

That’s exactly what the Bangladesh Women did on Sunday in the final. They kept the scoreboard ticking regularly and punished the poor ball with boundaries whenever they could. At no point did they give any image of being nervous because they clearly were the underdogs in the match.

Anju was an asset for the Indian team because she struck an excellent balance as an opening batsman and keeper. She opened batting and kept the wicket almost throughout her career. The way she maintained a nimble footwork and efficiency with the glove was too charming. She even captained the Indian side for a brief period of time.

She led the Indian team in the 2000 Women’s World Cup where India were knocked out by New Zealand in the semi-final. Although, she averaged less than 16 that tournament, she was applauded for her captaincy and leadership skills that was one of the major reasons behind India reaching the last four.

Post retirement, Anju has continued to be a great leader, even if she has to do her job off the field. She was in charge of the Indian team during 2012 Women’s World T20 and the 2013 World Cup. She has managed the likes of Mithali Raj, Jhulam Goswami and Harmanpreet Kaur, either as a captain or coach. Anju knowing each of the key players from the Indian team gave Bangladesh an edge over the reigning champion.

“Obviously, it’s been an advantage for us. We had our plans in place for each opposition player. We kept relaying the messages to them between overs. However, the coaching staff doesn’t execute the plans. It’s the players and credit to the girls who were not cowed down by the opposition and executed the plans perfectly,” said Anju in an interview after the Asia Cup t20 Final 2018.

Anju will always be counted among the legends of Indian Women’s cricket and only some have gone and given back to the game. Prior to the Asia Cup T20 2018, Bangladesh had lost 14 consecutive T20Is and they even lost the opener of the T20 tournament. However, the way these women made a comeback in the tournament was commendable. They went on to register three consecutive T20I wins, something they had never done before. Bangladesh have a jam-packed schedule in the coming few months. To begin with, they are set to tour Ireland followed by the World T20 qualifiers.

Anju will do everything possible to take this bunch of women ahead in the sport. Although she did feel awkward initially not wearing the blue colours in an international tournament but that feeling didn’t last for a long time.

Bangladesh indeed are lucky to have our legend on their side!