Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced the World Cup-bound squad for the Women’s T20 World Cup in a press release on Sunday. The 22-year-old Fatima Sana will take over the captaincy duties from veteran all-rounder Nida Dar. Dar, who captained Pakistan in 37 international games, was removed from captaincy on Saturday. PCB Director, Usman Wahla, communicated the decision to the all-rounder, as per reports.
“You are being removed from the captaincy. Fatima Sana will be the captain of the Pakistan women’s team. You will continue to be a valued member of the national team,”
PCB has not stated a specific reason behind Nida’s ousting but many sources report that the cricket governing body wanted to keep the future in mind. Nurturing a new captain while players like Nida Dar are still available can help Pakistan in the longer run. It remains to be seen whether the 37-year-old will continue as the team’s ODI captain. Although Fatima has not captained Pakistan’s first team in T20Is before, she has the experience of leading the team in many domestic and emerging team matches. In international cricket, she has captained the women in green in a few ODI games, one of which was the epochal victory of Pakistan Women over New Zealand Women at the Hagley Oval, Christchurch last year. Sana’s 34-ball-36 runs cameo helped Pakistan win the game eventually in the Super Over.
The 15-member squad is pretty much the same as fans and pundits expected. The national selection committee went for only a few changes from the squad that visited Sri Lanka for the Women’s Asia Cup last month. In addition to handing the captaincy duties to Sana, Pakistan have switched the wicket-keeper batter, Najiha Alvi with the right-handed batter Sadaf Shams. Muneeba Ali will again take the responsibility of keeping the wickets.
The last international game the Pakistan women’s team played was during the Asia Cup in July against the eventual champions, Sri Lanka. While the girls in green could not get over the line, they showed every bit of grit to clinch the game. Unluckily, the team lost the game with one ball to spare.
Pakistan are in the same group as Australia, India, New Zealand and Sri Lanka. Although the schedule is yet to be announced, the tournament will begin on 3rd October. Following the political instability in Bangladesh, the decision to shift the T20 World Cup to another venue was rightly time-consuming. International Cricket Council (ICC) announced the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as the new host earlier this week. Along with UAE, many other countries including Sri Lanka, India, and Zimbabwe were considered before making the final decision.
Pakistan Women Team’s 15-member squad for the Women’s T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates:
Fatima Sana (capt), Aliya Riaz, Diana Baig, Gull Feroza, Iram Javed, Muneeba Ali (wk), Nashra Sandhu, Nida Dar, Omaima Sohail, Sadaf Shamas, Sadia Iqbal (subject to fitness), Sidra Amin, Syeda Aroob Shah, Tasmia Rubab, Tuba Hassan
Travelling reserve: Najiha Alvi (wicketkeeper-batter). Non-traveling reserves: Rameen Shamim and Umm-e-Hani
