The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will be sending both men’s and women’s teams for the Asian Games set to be held later this year in China. The teams for both the categories were recently named.
The announcement has brought some delight for Saika Ishaque who didn’t find a place for herself for the Bangladesh tour despite performing pretty well in the inaugural edition of the Women’s Premier League for Mumbai Indians but has now been included in the standby players list for the Asian Games.
The spinner scalped 15 wickets for the franchise in 10 games.
Saika’s coach Shibsagar Singh, who has played a major role in shaping the spinner’s career, expressed his joy and added that she has surely moved a step ahead in her career.
“For sure, she has moved a step ahead in her career after getting selected as a standby player for the Asian Games but she is working really hard to get into the side. She is working a lot on her fitness as well as her bowling drills,” Singh told News18 CricketNext.
“As I said, she has been working on both her fitness and bowling. The fitness level has surely gone up. Talking specifically about the drills, that include running, sprint running and a lot of other things are there. She is working really hard,” he added.
The Bengal player had a good outing during the WPL 2023 and the performance during the competition has given her a lot of confidence and self-belief that she surely belongs to that level.
“After playing the WPL, her confidence has gone really up. She has a belief that she belongs to that level after the way she bowled and got the wickets. Playing in such a tournament gives you a lot of confidence for sure,” Singh said.
“Moreover, she has a lot of hunger to succeed, play at the highest level and wants to work really hard for that. Even when we have our conversations, I tell her that this is just the beginning, you have to go a long way and work on your skills every single day,” he added.
Saika didn’t find a place for herself in the squad for the Bangladesh tour and when quizzed about the same, Singh noted that not everyone from the camp can find a place in the side.
“Look, everyone who is in the camp has an expectation that they will get selected but if you are not selected then you can’t really do much about it. The only way forward is that you keep working on your skills and improve yourself,” he concluded.
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