Bismah Maroof shows that you can be a mother and also return as the captain of your team

Imagine a scenery - a scenery where it was still dark but in the wet moonlight outside the window, she could still see the shimmers of raindrops on smooth banana leaves. Although it might work fine as a hyperbole, yet the raindrops were full of hope and agony.

It is not common for a woman to have the freedom she deserves in Pakistan. Not imperative to say but the same happens all over South Asia.

This becomes even more of a concern when you are a sportswoman and already married. Things become as complicated as one can think of and that leaves them steady on the cold desolate garden of memory.

Exactly this is what happened with Pakistan women's cricket team's "Norm Breaker" captain Bismah Maroof but the encoraging part is she had the support of her husband and family. This is when the raindrops on smooth banana leaves full of hope and agony were not much of a concern for her. Here, we are talking about a Bismah who is not only a player but also a wife and a mother. 

The Pakistan Women's Team captain Bismah Maroof arrived today at Mount Maunganui for their first Women's World Cup 2022 match against India Women's Team with her toddler. Yes, with her toddler! 

This might sound controversial to many due to the pandemic and bio-bubble but the rule is accepted by ICC as a beneficiary of a parental policy.

Bismah mentioned, "A child needs the mother. If I had to continue my career, the question would have been - where would my kid go? And if I'm on the field, who will take care of the kid? Hiring a nanny and taking her along everywhere is expensive, and as women cricketers, we don't earn as much to afford such luxuries. Our contracts help us survive and make a living, but without a parental policy, it would've become difficult to continue playing with a child around."

That being said it is a life of different challenges that Bismah is leading these days, dabbling between her fitness, batting, captaincy and responsibilities as a mother. Despite the added load, she is glad "Fatima is a good child", who doesn't wake her up more than twice or thrice a night. 

Bismah said, "I try to make sure that Fatima doesn't wake up before I leave for practice. If she's awake, my mother and Fatima both come along with us. But on most days, I return from practice and meet her. Till the time she doesn't see me, she behaves normally. But when I come in front of her, she doesn't want to leave me, she wants to be around no one else. Thankfully, she's a good girl. She goes to sleep around 10-11 and doesn't cause much trouble as I've heard about some of the other kids."

Pakistan's best batter is one of the eight mothers playing in the ongoing World Cup and will be the first Pakistani to resume national duty post motherhood. In a country where most cricketers have had their cricket careers end post-marriage, Bismah's life has taken a different turn. A soft-spoken, unassuming personality, at some point she too had believed that a similar fate awaited her.

Bismah further said, "Looking at some of my teammates, I had never imagined that I would be able to continue playing cricket after marriage, let alone after becoming a mother. But fortunately, I had my family's support, especially my husband who believed that I could become an inspiration for the other girls who too can play after becoming a mother."

The presence of a six-month-old child in Pakistan's World Cup campaign has risen the energy of the whole squad. Fatima, the daughter of Bismah, has become the new centre of attention in the squad and the captain believes it is a positive sight for them.

"With a kid around, it's a different energy in the team, everyone feels relaxed. When you're too focussed on one thing, it builds pressure on you. When you're around a kid, all your unnecessary worries disappear. And it shows in the team, they've gelled well in helping me around - either to pick my bags or my kid, and that helps going into a competition"

Whenever one of Bismah's teammates feel stressed out, they have the company of little Fatima who brings out the child-like happiness among the lot.

Getting the centre of attention back to Bismah Maroof herself, the story of this woman inspiring millions around the world is just like a phantasmagorical beauty standing before the world as a ghastly apparition.

Bismah Maroof started her international career at the age of only 15. She was always dubbed as the "Baby of the Team" and today, she has arrived in a Cricket World Cup match along with "Her Baby".

The captain of Pakistan women's team feels glad and lucky to be who she is today as she mentioned:"When I sit back and think from where I started out in life and how my journey panned out, I'm thankful. Now, you don't look at cricketing achievements as a be-all and end-all. Now, for me, life achievements have become bigger. I'm able to see the bigger picture of how lucky I've been and how blessed I am to be here, to be able to continue living my passion of playing cricket."

Life is more than any day-to-day routines and when responsibilities of this life comes in to scrutinise, you learn how difficult life is. You will feel a dead calmness encompassing and succumbing yourself into the euphoria of life. But when that situation arrives, you are to have the belief and get past all the hurdles just like Bismah Maroof.

For many it might only be a wholesome and an inspiring life story but for a few this will always be an extraterrestrial life story of a superwoman cricketer.