LAHORE: Pakistan women’s national cricket team will face South Africa in a three-match T20 series, which will be played at Durban’s Kingsmead Cricket Stadium from Friday (today).
This will be the national side’s first international T20I format assignment since the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in Australia last year. Pakistan have played eight T20s in South Africa to date and faced South Africa in six of them. The tourists have won two - all in the last tour in 2019 – and lost four, a spokesman of the PCB, said.
Pakistan captain Javeria Khan says her side is well equipped to challenge the hosts in their conditions. “It is a new series and presents us an opportunity to bounce back on the tour,” she said, adding: “We have some exciting cricketers in our ranks who can leave a mark and they are eager to make the most of this series. All-rounders Nida Dar and Aliya Riaz have been in good form and their ability to hit the ball hard and contribute with the ball in the crucial middle overs provide good balance to the side. Diana Baig, who is on her first tour of South Africa, turned out to be the most successful bowler in the ODI series, which is a good sign for us and the presence of Aiman Anwar provides depth to our pace bowling department.”
“We have impressive spinners in Anam Amin, Nashra Sandhu and Sadia Iqbal and I have no doubts that these players will raise their hands when the situation demands from them,” Javeria said.
“We played good cricket in chunks but squandered opportunities to grab the game. We needed our batters to provide us solid start, which was not the case, and we unfortunately also let go of crucial chances while fielding,” she said, “Batting in South Africa can be difficult. That our batters have been exposed to these conditions and have played three matches at the venue where we will be playing the T20 series, I am hopeful they will respond to the demands of the matches in T20I series accordingly.”
Pakistan squad includes: Javeria Khan (Captain), Aimen Anwar, Aliya Riaz, Anam Amin, Ayesha Naseem, Ayesha Zafar, Diana Baig, Fatima Sana, Kainat Imtiaz, Muneeba Ali Siddiqui, Nahida Khan, Nashra Sandhu, Nida Dar, Omaima Sohail, Sadia Iqbal, Sidra Nawaz (wk) and Syeda Aroob Shah.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
Comments
Comments are closed.