Abtaha Maqsood: England’s first hijab-wearing int’l cricketer

BIRMINGHAM: Abtaha Maqsood, 22, is Britain’s first hijab-wearing Muslim female to play international cricket and she wants other young British Muslim girls to take up cricket who due to cultural or religious barriers are not able to do so.

Abtaha, whose parents are originally from Lahore, Pakistan, was born in Glasgow on June 11, 1999, the day when Pakistan beat Zimbabwe to qualify for the semi-finals of cricket World Cup played in England & Scotland.

Abtaha Maqsood, who’s currently playing for Birmingham Phoenix in the new short format 200-ball cricket tournament “The Hundred” in England, started playing cricket as a little girl in the back garden of her house with her father and brothers. She was just 11 when she joined local cricket club “Poloc”. She was selected to represent Scotland’s under 17 against Ireland in a T20 where who she took her first wicket for the U-17 too.

Speaking to Geo News at Edgbaston Cricket Stadium in Birmingham, Abtaha said inspiration behind her playing cricket are her parents and brothers as she had complete family backing in this connection. Abtaha termed her father the most amazing support throughout her sporting career.

“My dad and my mom are both big cricket lovers, they love sports. But my dad in particular is so important no matter what sport you chose. You always have to make sure that you’re healthy as it’s important for your mental and physical health”.

Besides playing cricket Abtaha Maqsood also got a black belt in Taekwondo at aged 11 and has participated in British and Scottish championships too. She said she never thought of choosing cricket as a career path at that time. But the experience of playing cricket so far has been amazing for her.

Abtaha told Geo News she started wearing hijab when she was 11-12 after watching her mother started wearing it and it was completely her own decision. In fact her parents did give her the choice to not wear hijab as she was very young at that time but she was really insisting on wearing it.

“Wearing a hijab was my own choice. I went for Umrah when I was 11; my mom started wearing hijab when we were on the plane back. So I asked her why was she wearing that and told her that she likes to wear it as well,” Abtaha said.

“It was really important for me at that time as it is now and I will continue wearing it”, she further added.