A rare period of success

Girls in Green secured T20I and ODI series win against Sri Lanka in Karachi

Women in Pakistan and their role is often a point of debate. Many believe they are just there to make home whereas others beg to differ. In such a polarised society over this specific issue, it is not a surprise to see that women’s sports remain a thing not many want to discuss.

It is not just a problem at the societal level. This exists at the very top too where people in power have some sort of visionary thinking. They claim nothing can be achieved, no matter how much effort you put into it.

But that stereotyped thinking has often been proven wrong with several women athletes making the country proud despite having no or very little support from the authorities.

Pakistan Women’s cricket team is another product which suffered immensely over the years because of such behaviour.

Without proper investment, the authorities were always more interested in the output. With every win, there are people who question whether the opponent was good enough whereas every defeat would be labelled with the tagline ‘we told you so’.

But despite that, the Girls in Green have been trending upwards and in Karachi on Friday, the Pakistan Women team secured an ODI series triumph against Sri Lanka Women at the South End Cricket Club after winning the second fixture by 73 runs, courtesy of brilliant century from opener Sidra Ameen and four-fer from young pacer Fatima Sana.

The victory was followed by a thumping eight-wicket in the first fixture at the same venue on Tuesday.

Earlier in the 20-over format, Pakistan Women were dominant throughout and secured a thumping 3-0 whitewash against the same opposition at the same venue.

Youngsters on the rise

One of the most prominent criticisms received by the Pakistan Women is that there are players who take their place in the squad and in the playing XI for granted knowing that there are no backups to replace them.

However, one thing which almost always goes under the radar is how there was no system in place or pathway for girls to come from.

It is almost saying that you are waiting for a crop without actually putting any seed in the land and hoping that just water would be enough for the land to be fertile. Will you get any results by doing this? The answer is no. Similarly in cricket, if there is no pathway cleared for the youngsters to follow, they would always be hesitant to take it professionally.

But things have changed for good. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), under the leadership of Ehsan Mani and Wasim Khan, introduced a central contract for women cricketers which also included a clause for maternity leave.

There have been tournaments consistently taking place for girls in the country whereas there is also a focus on starting the Women’s Pakistan Super League (PSL), especially since the arrival of Ramiz Raja as the PCB chairman.

Those things paid dividends as now there have been youngsters making their way right to the top and delivering the good for the national team.

The likes of pacer Fatima Sana, leg-spinner Tuba Hassan and hard-hitting batter Ayesha Naseem have been making the headlines for all the right reasons.

Out of the three, the most exciting one is Ayesha who unlike the other batters in the lineup, has the ability to hit it big when it matters the most.

Then there is young Tuba, who is brave enough to flight and turn the ball, something which is very rare in women’s cricket.

The ever dependable Fatima is now leading the Pakistan Women pace attack and delivers it time and again for the team.

Those three along with others will surely give the fans of the Pakistan Women’s team a lot of hope going forward as they are not only young but they give some much-needed competition to senior pros like Javeria Khan who was dropped from the series.

Captain fantastic

In every successful cricket team, the role of the captain can never be discounted. The same is the case in the Pakistan Women team where the return of Bismah Maroof after maternity leave has surely impacted the side in a good way.

A good leader in cricket is someone who is always one step ahead of the opponent and calm under pressure, something which is visible in Bismah’s captaincy with the way how she deals with the tricky situation on the field.

That’s not it as she is an outstanding batter as well and on Friday, the left-hander became the leading run-getter for Pakistan Women in the ODI format by scoring an unbeaten 36 off 43 balls, surpassing Javeria’s tally of 2885.

Another attribute of a leader is how she often keeps the focus on the player when performances are going well and when not, they take the responsibility.

Maroof did the same in the post-match talk during the second ODI where she credited the whole team for winning the series.

“It was a team effort,” she said. “Sidra’s knock was brilliant. Our bowling has good variety, particularly with spin. The quicks are doing well, we need to win in the field. We have 4 points in the ICC Championship and will look to earn two more in the next game.”

With those attributes and youngsters coming forward, it might be a little too early to claim, but Pakistan Women’s cricket might finally be on a track where they will be able to compete with some of the big teams in the circuit.