Ahead of West Indies series: Marina Iqbal optimistic of Pakistan’s chances

Cricket in South Asia is much more than just a sport and Pakistan is no different. What happens on the field is not a matter confined to just 22 players. It can overshadow anything in the country.

Women’s cricket is taking a more central stage in the scheme of things in Pakistan, especially ever since the arrival of new chairman Ramiz Raja who emphasised having a pool of more than 130 players instead of just 30.

Unlike the past, where developments in women’s cricket have gone unnoticed, things have changed for good and the beginning of a new journey under the new leadership will be with the ODI series against mighty West Indies.

The Caribbean side is scheduled to play the home team in three ODIs, scheduled to be organised at the National Stadium in Karachi from November 8 – 14 2021.

Any team who is being around for a while, playing in their home conditions, will at least start on equal footing, but that might not be the case in the coming series.

Pakistan will be underdogs against a team that is more reliant on hard-hitting than conventional stroke-play, something which is visible from the fact that Windies have won 21 out of 30 matches played between the sides whereas the Women-in-Green managed to win just nine.

Despite those numbers, former all-rounder Marina Iqbal, while talking to Bol News, expressed optimism about the team’s chances, who according to her can beat any opposition on a given day.

“Our women’s team is as unpredictable as their men’s counterparts,” she said. “I guess that is something down to the way we are as a nation. Some days we are excellent, and we can really beat anyone in any condition but then there are days when you are scratching your head as to where the things went wrong. We have defeated strong teams in the past including West Indies and there is no reason to believe that we cannot achieve something like that in the future.”

Marina was a part of the management committee in an advisory role of the recently concluded Pakistan Women’s One Day Cup 2021-22.

Talking about the impact of the competition on women’s cricket in Pakistan, the 34-year-old, who represented the national team in 36 ODIs and 42 T20Is where she managed to score 776 runs and claimed 10 wickets, believed that things are moving in the right direction.

“See, the reality is that things have improved in women’s cricket over the last few years,” said Marina. “But yes, I agree that there is a lot of room for improvement. To say that things have not improved from the time I was playing for Pakistan, would be a wrong statement. Things are much better now and they’ve streamed line over the last few years.”

The Women’s One Day Cup’s standard was a talking point amongst the cricket fraternity where former Chief Selector Urooj Mumtaz was visibly unhappy with the players’ intent.

Marina admitted that the standard was not up to the mark but highlighted that the preparations were difficult because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“I would’ve to agree that the standard in the Women’s One Day tournament was not up to the mark,” she said. “Players intent was something to be concerned about for sure as they played too many dot balls. But at the same time, to call it an unsuccessful event will be a wrong statement as well. I think this tournament will have a positive impact on the overall development of women’s cricketers in the country.”

She continued by saying: “One thing that a lot of people have complained about was that the sides were unbalanced, and you can’t disagree with that. But you must dig a little deeper to understand what happened and why it happened. When this plan was set up to have a tournament like the One-Day Cup, there were three teams because the players’ pool was small. We don’t have a club active in women’s cricket so there is no nursery for the players to come across.

“To overcome that hurdle, we started Skills 2 Shine program where young players showcased their talent and based on those performances, they became a part of the squad. That’s how we ended up increasing the players’ pool but one thing we cannot discount is that we are living in a Covid-affected world and it had a serious impact on things we planned as well. There were more events scheduled for these young players to showcase what they’ve got but things do not always turn out the way you want them.”

Talking about the positive aspect of the Women’s One Day Cup, the Quetta-born named young Anoosha Nasir as one of the upcoming stars for the future.

“There have been a lot of positives you can take from such a competition,” she said. “We have found a really intelligent young bowler in Anooshay and she was not the only one. There were other youngsters too. Also, one of the most satisfying things was the performance of veterans like Nida Dar, Aliya Riaz and Javeria Khan. They made sure that the best version of them was on display in the matches.”

The direction of women’s cricket in Pakistan has always been under suspicion with the results not being backed up by the effort and investment, in both bilateral series and mega-events.

Marina, while admitting that the team’s performance has not been great, stated that comparison with other sides such as Australia, England and India is not justified.

“There is some substance in criticism of women’s cricket,” she added. “But we also must not forget that girls here never really got the kind of facilities players of other teams did in the past. We cannot expect our players to perform at the same level such as cricketers from Australia, England and India. We need to be realistic about what we are expecting and then we can dissect where we are going wrong. But having said that I also accept that there is a lot of work that is needed to be done and I think slowly but surely we will reach there.”