A belief, thousands of criticisms, passion and dream which makes someone stand out of crowd. Ms Iqra Rasool, a young woman from the valley is making it big on the Women  Cricket stage, her life comes with facing adversities of different kinds. The game she loves sees no age, size or bio data, it demands numbers and performances and she kept delivering that, which kept the flame ignited in her and today she speaks for a whole community and her story has made others to rise up and get to the grind.  Let’s meet a girl, a dreamer, a pacer and a performer from Baramulla.

Her love for sports was prevalent. At a young age she played multiple sports with volleyball being her favourite, it was later on her coach Mr Sarfaraz Nabi who motivated her to try her luck with cricket, little did anyone know about the upcoming storm. With natural talent success came calling, she represented school and went on to play the nationals. Though she being a national sportswoman things did not sit well in her family, with parents and blood relatives shunting all growth and criticising every move for a career growth, with their primary argument being it’s a man’s game and women are to loose their respect, if such endeavours are pursued. There was an instance where in her selection letter had to be torn for having food at home, with her brother repeatedly demanding her to quit the fantasy.

 All the adversaries aside, she speaks on how she calmed the storm at her home, it all comes down to performance and when it is raw talent with pure grit, you are left spellbound which she did when her father saw her play for the first time, amidst lot of pressure and she bowled a great over picking up wicket of an U-23 player who was well known in the community. That day, she changed everyone’s opinions and her quest for donning the Indian colours began. Ms Iqra is dreamer, a believer and an inspiration for thousands. Her sole belief in dreams and clarity of perception gave her the will to fight against all the adversities, now having gained all the momentum and fame she still keeps her head on donning the Indian colours.

 A woman who shows no signs of being put down drives the world, with the globe watching over the young stars that carries a lot of pressure on her shoulders, the 20 year old just smiles and accepts things and believes in her abilities and delivers the performance that answers all the doubters. Rise and shine they said, but she believed in rise, grind, struggle, dream and shine. She represents future, she represents Kashmir and she represents India.