How Diego Maradona inspired Jhulan Goswami to take up sports and initially jersey no. 10

What inspired India's pace icon Jhulan Goswami to take up sports? In an interview with Female Cricket this year, Goswami shared that a great chunk of her childhood was spent at her aunt's residence in Bengal. Bengal and football have been very close from times immemorial. Jhulan had pointed that people have a great passion for football. As a result, the passion was seen in her siblings and aunt too. When she was seven or eight, she witnessed the power of sport for the first time. It was the 1990 football world cup. Argentina had Diego Maradona. Her aunt and siblings were a big fan of Maradona like all lovers throughout the globe. Unfortunately, Argentina lost the all-important match and Maradona cried.

She, also recalled in the interview that all her cousins and aunt were sobbing as well. It was at this moment that Jhulan witnessed the connection of sport to folks. She said that she realized, as a kid, that sports could change the emotions. There was an emotional connection that people had with their favorite games. She, then, followed the game regularly and would enjoy the environment of her aunt's house. It was sporty.

Jhulan Goswami was in fact so inspired by Diego Maradona, that she earlier donned jersey no. 10 matching, with her sports idol Diego. Jhulan was attracted to the idea of playing a sport by watching the love people had for Maradona.

Also read: Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami nominated for the ICC decade awards