'You have to keep setting goals': Diana Baig talks about making it from Gilgit to the women's cricket squad
This 22-year-old medium pacer, Diana Baig, burst into prominence in the Women’s World Cup (WWC) 2017.
The young athlete from Gilgit is one of the most animated players on the field. She dives, runs and chases with a palpable energy, bringing the field to life.
Diana was effective with her pace in the recent ICC Championship series against New Zealand in November 2017 and Sri Lanka in March 2018, fielded with characteristic enthusiasm and was handy with the bat in some key moments.
One of the emerging stars on the women’s team, I spoke to Diana on the phone about her childhood and how she made it from Gilgit to the national squad.
The interview below is translated from Urdu and has been edited for brevity and clarity.
This is the second of a four-part series of interviews with two seniors and two newcomers to the women’s squad, which is currently playing the Women's Twenty20 Asia Cup in Malaysia from June 3-10, 2018. Read part 1 here.
How old were you when you first developed an interest in cricket?
I think I was around six or seven when we would play cricket at home. We wouldn't play football that much; we mostly played cricket.
We used to stuff old socks with shoppers (plastic bags) to make balls. We couldn't even afford to buy balls at the time. And for a bat, we would use our own wood or sometimes a spade with the handle removed.
We made our own cricket equipment because we were very young and we couldn’t afford to buy it.