She wasn’t different from other five-year-old girls, playing cricket with brothers on street and trying to copy styles of cricketing idol but today she is one of the most successful captains in women cricket.

Sana made her international debut in 2005 against Sri Lanka in Karachi and soon became the backbone of Pakistan women team. She was named Pakistan’s captain in 2009 and since then she has led Pakistan to gold medal in Asian Games twice, and international wins against countries like Sri Lanka, South Africa, India and West Indies.

Sana, who is Pakistan’s leading wicket-taker in T20s and ODIs, spoke to ‘The News on Sunday’ on the sidelines of Pakistan-Bangladesh series in Karachi. Here’re the excerpts from the interview.

The News on Sunday: Sana, how did you start your cricketing  journey?

Sana Mir: I started playing on streets with my brother. I was four or five years old. I used to accompany my brother wherever he went to play. Later, my brother got busy in his studies, but I continued playing. In 2003 probably, I appeared in trials conducted by PWCAA, was selected but couldn’t play as PWCAA was taken over by PCB.

After PCB’s takeover of women Cricket, I was chosen to play Asia Cup in Karachi, and made my debut against Sri Lanka. That’s how my journey began.

TNS: You were an engineering student. How did an engineering student transform into a cricketer?

SM: Cricket was in my blood, I always wanted to play cricket and represent Pakistan. It wasn’t easy for me to continue cricket along with studies. I had to choose either cricket or engineering. I picked cricket. I wasn’t even selected for team when I decided to choose cricket. My decision was based on my passion for the game and, thankfully, in the same year got a chance to represent Pakistan.

TNS: It is not so easy for women in Pakistan to opt for a career in sports. How difficult it was for you? How much did your parents support you?

SM: Fortunately, I didn’t have any first-hand experience of any kind of social barriers, but I’ve witnessed other girls struggling a lot, mainly because our team wasn’t professional initially.

But the Asian Games gold medal in 2010 changed the concept of women cricket in Pakistan and parents started encouraging their daughters to go for cricket. It also helped existing players who got contracts and other incentives. I am lucky that my parents always supported and encouraged me. I still remember that I was preparing for my chemistry papers and my mother brought a newspaper which published a print-ad about trials being held to select women’s team, and encouraged me to appear in the trials.

TNS: Do you find yourself any different from other girls, girls who are not into sports?

SM: May be our lifestyle is a bit different from other girls, but we are not different from anyone. There may be some girls who are naturally athletic and strong.

Girls in the Subcontinent are usually smart and intelligent and this street smartness gives us an edge over women athletes of other parts of the world.

TNS: You started as a fast bowler. What made you change your bowling style from fast bowling to off-spin?

SM: I always wanted to become a fast bowler. Waqar Younis was my idol and I always loved to bowl with a long run-up like Waqar Younis. But, along with fast bowling, I also used to bowl off-spin. Fast bowling until the sunlight allowed us to play on street, and then off-spin so that there’s no problem in keeping eye on the ball. When I was introduced to international cricket, I had a back injury and recovery took more than five months.

After recovery, during a nets session I went to Omar (Rasheed) and said I can bowl off-spin too and demonstrated my off-spin talent. He was impressed and told me to start bowling off spin. Initially I missed my run-up a lot, but giving up fast bowling was necessary for my career. It was accidental but it helped me and my team a lot.

TNS: What’s the secret of your success as the captain?

SM: I first captained Karachi’s team in 2007. It was a young team and we defeated Lahore’s experienced side. I think, as Pakistan’s captain, my strong point was being able to understand people from all parts of the country.

I consider myself as citizen of every city. I was born in Abbottabad, spent my childhood in Rawalpindi, then moved to Gujranwala, also lived in Taxila and Karachi and finally settled in Lahore.

It helped me learn culture and lifestyle of girls from all parts of the country and they all were equally important for me. As a captain, I also tried to eliminate differences between the girls who were there before PCB’s takeover of women wing and people who came after PCB’s takeover.

I always try to bring the best out of every player and make them realise their responsibility. PCB and the women’s wing also deserve the credit for continuous backing and support to us.

TNS: Is there sledging in women’s cricket?

SM: Not as such. We usually don’t sledge. It may happen occasionally -- in India vs Pakistan match or Pakistan vs South Africa match. Sometimes some South African cricketers opt for sledging. Pakistani girls have never started, but if someone opts for sledging against us then we make sure to respond in a way that they don’t do it ever again.

TNS: Are you satisfied with the level of women’s domestic cricket in Pakistan?

SM: There’s always room for improvement. The way they’ve minimised the number of teams in men’s domestic Cricket to increase the competitiveness is a good step and should be adopted in women’s cricket too.

Our regions should be made to work throughout the year, not just 10 days before an event. The standard of cricket should be improved across the board. Matches in top domestic tournaments should be between teams of equal standards, so that finest talent can be filtered.

TNS: It seems that, just like our men’s team, our women’s team also depends on the bowling line. Do women cricketers idolize bowling stars more than batting stars?

SM: Pakistan has produced so many bowling superstars and this is one of the factors that we’ve always idealised our bowling heroes and have worked to become players like them.

We also have batting stars in Pakistan but it is not easy for anyone to bat like other players, batting is an art which can be learnt with experience. Our batting has improved gradually. I agree that our batters need to score more.

TNS: There are too many leagues for men’s like Big Bash, IPL, BPL but there isn’t any for women. Do you think women cricketers also deserve lucrative leagues like IPL?

SM: Why not? It will be helpful for everyone. I’ve played a World XI match and sharing dressing room with players from other countries helped me. Recently, I went to Bangladesh with Bismah (Maroof) which allowed us to know about the standard of Bangladesh women cricket team.

Australia is having big bash league for women and the way Bismah has performed recently, I hope that she’ll surely get a call from them. There are local leagues for women in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and even in India. Our girls should go there and play.

TNS: What’s the most memorable moment in your career?

SM: It is hard to single out one moment, but winning the gold medals in Asian Games in 2010 and 2014 are the sweetest memories. Our win against England and India are also memorable.

TNS: What are your future plans?

SM: I never set any individual goals. My vision is to prepare a team in which I can’t find a place for myself. I don’t want the team to depend on me. Instead I want to prepare more and more players for the country and prepare a player to take captaincy from me.

Pakistan women’s team is at a dominating position in Asia. Now I want the Pakistan women’s team to be a big force in world cricket.