Muneeba Ali seeks more opportunities for women to compete with top nations

ISLAMABAD: Muneeba Ali, Pakistan's first woman cricketer to hit a T20I century, has said that the ongoing Women’s League would help the nation narrow the gap with top cricketing nations, hoping that it will also boost the country's player pool.

In an exclusive interview with Geo News, the 25-year-old cricketer said that Pakistan can be among the top four teams in women's cricket but it requires consistency in providing opportunities to female cricketers of the country.

“No doubt that there’s a difference between Pakistan and top nations in women's cricket. We need to eliminate this difference. We can achieve that by providing consistent opportunities to girls and focusing more on domestic cricket,” she said.

“We need more than two weeks or merely a month-long domestic activities,” said Muneeba.

Muneeba became the first Pakistani woman to hit a T20I century when she scored 102 runs against Ireland in the Women’s T20 World Cup match in Cape Town last month.

The stylish batter wants to be consistent in her performance and wants to be among the top batters in the world.

“Scoring century is always a good thing and to do that on a world cup stage makes it more special. It gave me confidence that I can score big runs in big games and I am hopeful of doing that with consistency,” Muneeba said.

Muneeba added that Women's League will be a great addition and a step in the absolutely right direction to promote women's cricket in the country.

She added that players have already got some learning during the training and the first of three exhibition matches being held on the sidelines of PSL.

“The experience of sharing a dressing room and rubbing shoulders with some of the bests of the world was really good, especially for some youngsters, this is really a great opportunity,”

“We are already learning a lot, imagine if we get to spend more time with these players — then the amount of learning for us will be bigger,” said the top-order batter.

She hoped that the Women's League will be able to produce the same results as PSL did for men’s cricket.

“I am sure that it will not only produce talent for Pakistan, but it will also increase opportunities for the players from around the world,” she said.

“It will also help people realize that women can also opt for cricket as a profession,” Muneeba concluded.