THE performance of the Pakistan women cricketers against their Bangladesh counterparts in the recent home series deserves high praise. The national women’s team, under the astute leadership of Sana Mir, won all the four matches including the two T20 games and two ODIs to yet again prove their supremacy over their Asian rivals. Young middle-order player Bismah Maroof and spinner Anum Ameen stood out during the matches, all of which were held in Karachi. The credit for the series primarily goes to the Bangladesh Cricket Board which sent its women’s team here following foolproof security assurances from the Pakistan Cricket Board. Besides being competitive, the incident-free matches in the series have greatly helped to strengthen a positive image of Pakistan in matters of security and sport.

With international matches not a very frequent event for Pakistan’s women cricketers until early this year, things were not looking up. However, with the world cricket governing body, the ICC, issuing women’s cricket rankings for the first time ever this month, the picture is slowly changing for the better now. The launch of the new rankings underscores the ICC’s long-term commitment to investing, incentivising, promoting and publicising women’s cricket — in fact there has been a substantial increase in public interest and participation, as well as a marked improvement in the standard of the international game. Sana Mir’s charges are now all set to tour the West Indies next week for a full series comprising seven games. On its way back from the Caribbean, the Pakistani women’s team shall visit the United States to play two friendly T20 matches which will give the players valuable experience ahead of the Women’s T20 World Cup lined up in India next year. Placed sixth in the international rankings, the women cricket team’s recent success against Bangladesh will hold them in good stead during the tough assignments ahead. The talent and drive are there. The cricketers now need the wholehearted and consistent support of the PCB to thrive internationally.

Published in Dawn, October 11th, 2015

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