ISLAMABAD: Pakistan women cricket team captain Fatima Sana assured cricket fans of playing attacking cricket during the T20 World Cup, a brand of cricket that was missing earlier on.
In her column for the ICC, Fatima stated that her team was looking forward to playing aggressive cricket with all guns blazing. Besides Pakistan, the Group comprises Australia, India, New Zealand and Sri Lanka.
“We are aiming to bring a different and fearless approach to the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup this year. In the past, we’ve often struggled in the Powerplay, with early wickets falling, middle-order collapses, and a slow pace of runs leading to low totals. We’ve also found it difficult to chase targets above 120.
“We now understand how crucial it is to have positive intent, especially during the Powerplay, to set the tone and post competitive scores. If we look at the top teams, they all make the most of the first six overs, which help them score big and chase high totals.”
Fatima also praised youngsters for showing positive intent. “Recently, we’ve started playing with more attacking intent, and some young players have shown exciting potential. The game has evolved enormously since I made my debut in 2019. Scores are much higher now, batters play with more freedom, and as a team, we’re adapting to stay competitive.
“This year, Gull Feroza has been in good form, with some strong innings in the Asia Cup. Muneeba Ali, at the top of the order, also performed well in the recent series against South Africa. Both are in good form and bring valuable experience.
“We’ve encouraged them to aim for a strike rate of over 100, a key metric that helps us post higher totals and compete with the best. In the middle order, we have experienced players like Nida Dar, Sidra Amin, and Aliya Riaz. I too, have been working hard to bring positive energy to the team through my batting.”
Pakistan captain also praised bowlers, saying: “When it comes to bowling, Sadia Iqbal has been phenomenal in the last year. She’s currently ranked No 3 in the ICC T20 rankings, and Nashra Sandhu is also in the top 10. Nida Dar is the leading wicket-taker in T20s, and we have two talented leg spinners, Syeda Arooba Shah, who captained Pakistan U19 at the T20 World Cup, and Tuba Hassan, who has been a key player since her debut. Both of them bring a lot of energy in the field, and our strong spin department will be crucial in the Dubai conditions.
“In the fast-bowling department, Diana Baig’s experience will be a great asset. I’ll do my best, as always, to contribute with both bat and ball, and we also have Tasmia Rubab, a left-arm seamer, which gives us good variety.”
Fatima termed the team as a mixture of youth and experience. “This exciting mix of youth and experience has me really looking forward to seeing how it all comes together for Pakistan.
Before our series against South Africa, we had a good fitness camp, and our performances in that series gave us a lot of positives and confidence to take into the World Cup. We put up our highest-ever T20I total of 181 runs in the second match, which showed that our new approach is starting to pay off.