Nuzhat Masih Parween (born 5 September 1996, also spelt Parveen) is an Indian

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er who plays as a

wicket-keeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. Th ...

. Domestically, she plays for

Railways Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

in the

Women's Senior One Day Trophy The Women's Senior One Day Trophy, previously known as the Senior Women's One Day League, is a women's List A cricket tournament held in India. It began in the 2006–07 season, with 24 teams representing state cricket associations, whilst the m ...

and

Women's Senior T20 Trophy The Women's Senior T20 Trophy, previously known as the Senior Women's T20 League, is a women's Twenty20 cricket competition held in India. It began in the 2008–09 season, with 28 teams representing state cricket associations, whilst the most r ...

. A multi-talented athlete, she is a former football captain of the Madhya Pradesh under-16 football team, she joined

Singrauli Singrauli is a city in Singrauli district in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and Commissionaire of Rewa. It lies about from the district headquarters of Waidhan. It was also the capital of erstwhile princely state of Singrauli. Demographics ...

's district cricket team in 2011. She made her debut for the Indian national team in November 2016, in a

Twenty20 International A Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of cricket, played between two of the international members of the International Cricket Council (ICC), in which each team faces a maximum of twenty overs. The matches have top-class status and are the ...

series against the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

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 was born in

and used to play her domestic cricket for

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...

and

Central Zone The Central Indo-Aryan languages or Hindi languages are a group of related language Variety (linguistics), varieties Spoken across North India and Central India. These language varieties form the central part of the Indo-Aryan language family, ...

. She now plays for

. Nuzhat used to play

gully cricket Backyard cricket, Bat ball, street cricket, beach cricket, corridor cricket, garden cricket, box cricket (if the ground is short) referred to as gully cricket in the Indian subcontinent, is an informal ''ad hoc'' variant of the game of 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 however, she faced some societal pressure. According to Nuzhat, this changed after her participation in the 2017 World Cup. According to Nuzhat, her football experience helped her build stamina and strength that have helped her in her role as a wicket-keeper. In 2012, she met

Mithali Raj Mithali Dorai Raj (born 3 December 1982) is an Indian cricketer and a former captain of the India women's national cricket team from 2004 to 2022. Mithali is the highest run-scorer in women's international cricket and is considered one of the ...

at the tournament, and was inspired to take up cricket. In her Class 12th, despite missing classes due to practices, she scored 91.8% (Commerce). During her school years, her family took the decision of admitting to a well-known private school to bring Parween the opportunities she needed.

Career

Nuzhat used to be a football player and was the captain of Madhya Pradesh for their under-16 football team. Nuzhat is the first Indian player to make it to the national team within just 5 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. In 2012–13, based on her performance, she was selected as vice-captain in the Central Zone under-19 women's cricket team. She took coaching under coach Aril Anthony of the Rewa Divisional Cricket Association. 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. According to Nuzhat, she would often travel alone and this would cause her family to worry for her security, as travel option in Singrauli are limited. Nuzhat came to know about her selection for the national team while travelling back to Singrauli from Bhopal by train. She was the youngest player to make it to the World squad after

Deepti Sharma Deepti Bhagwan Sharma (born 24 August 1997) is an Indian cricketer who plays for Bengal, Birmingham Phoenix and India. She is an all-rounder who bats left-handed and bowls right-arm off break and is currently ranked 3rd in the top all-rounders ...

. Her jersey number is seven. She made her

Women's One Day International cricket Women's One Day International (WODI) is the limited overs form of women's cricket. Matches are scheduled for 50 overs, equivalent to the men's game. The first women's ODIs were played in 1973, as part of the first Women's World Cup which was ...

(WODI) debut against Ireland in the

2017 South Africa Quadrangular Series The 2017 South Africa Women's Quadrangular Series was an international women's cricket tournament that was held in Potchefstroom, South Africa, from 4 to 21 May 2017. The series was contested between the teams of India, Ireland, South Africa and ...

on 15 May 2017. Parween was part of the Indian squad to reach the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

of the

2017 Women's Cricket World Cup The 2017 Women's Cricket World Cup was an international women's cricket tournament that took place in England from 24 June to 23 July 2017. It was the eleventh edition of the Women's Cricket World Cup, and the third to be held in England (after ...

where the team lost to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

by nine runs.England v India: Women's World Cup final – live!
''The Guardian'', 23 July 2017. 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.

Personal interests

Her favourite sports movies are the iconic women's hockey film

Chak de India ''Chak De! India'' () is a 2007 Indian Hindi-language sports drama film directed by Shimit Amin and produced by Aditya Chopra under the banner of Yash Raj Films, with a script written by Jaideep Sahni. The film stars Shah Rukh Khan as Kabir ...

and ' M. S. Dhoni: The Untold Story'. She is greatly inspired by

and

MS Dhoni Mahendra Singh Dhoni (; born 7 July 1981) is an Indian former international cricketer who was captain of the Indian national cricket team in limited-overs formats from 2007 to 2017 and in Test cricket from 2008 to 2014. He is also the curren ...

. She also follows England wicket-keeper Sarah Taylor. Nuzhat is pursuing a B Com via distance education course, while pursuing cricket dreams. She credits fellow cricketer Haripriya Das, who guided her through her journey.

References

External links

Female Cricket interviews Nuzhat Parween
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Parween, Nuzhat 1996 births Living people People from Singrauli district Indian women cricketers India women One Day International cricketers India women Twenty20 International cricketers Madhya Pradesh women cricketers Railways women cricketers Central Zone women cricketers IPL Trailblazers cricketers Indian Muslims Wicket-keepers