Pakistan women’s team announced for Sri Lanka tour

The Pakistan women’s cricket team made its ODI debut in the year 1997 against the New Zealand women, and later that same year, they were a part of the ODI World Cup that was hosted in India. The next year, they played their first Test match against Sri Lanka. Initially, they were one of the perpetual wooden spooners on the list of women’s cricket teams, but over the years, their competitiveness has improved.

They fared quite poorly in the ICC Women’s World Cup last year in England but they competed at some stages of the game which should have kept them in good stead. They will now travel to Sri Lanka and test themselves in the island nation.

At present, the team ranks 7th in ICC’s Women’s Rankings which incorporates results from Tests, ODIs and T20Is. Their next major assignment is the tour to Sri Lanka, to participate in the ICC Women’s Championship Round 2. The team for the same was recently announced, which included a 15-member squad. Pakistan Women’s team will lock horns in three ODIs and three T20Is against Sri Lanka Women’s team, scheduled to be held from March 20 to March 31, 2018. The hosts, on paper, look a stronger team.

Bismah Maroof will be at the helm of the team in both the formats of the game. Maroof replaced former captain Sana Mir in September last year. Mir’s leadership came under the scanner after the team’s very poor outing in the 2017 women’s world cup, in which they remained winless throughout. They suffered seven straight defeats in the prestigious event. Besides, Mir had had a fall-out with the team coach too. Maroof has been captaining the T20i side since 2016.

Complete squad for the Sri Lanka tour – Bibi Nahida, Sidra Amin, Javeria Wadood, Bismah Maroof (Captain), Fareeha Mahmood, Muneeba Ali Siddiqui, Sidra Nawaz, Sana Mir, Nida Rashid, Kainat Imtiaz, Natalia Parvaiz, Nashra Sundhu, Ghulam Fatima, Diana Baig, Aiman Anwar

Complete Team Management for the tour – Abdul Raqeeb (Manager), Mark Coles (Head Coach), Shahid Anwar (Batting Coach), Ibrar Ahmad (Trainer), Zubair Ahmad (Analyst), Sajda Fajar (Physiotherapist)