Team well prepared to compete in T20 World Cup: Bismah Maroof

KARACHI, Jan 30 (APP): National Women Cricket team T20 Captain Bismah Maroof Thursday said the team, having best combination, was well prepared to compete in the upcoming ICC Women T20 World Cup.

Addressing a presser at National Stadium Karachi, the women T20 Captain said that till now she had been representing Pakistan in the world cups as a player now it was her first as a captain. She said she was very passionate to perform and prove her skills in the field.

Bismah said that the team comprised of young players however every one had practiced enough and team was departing bit earlier to get the chances of playing some warm up matches.

Talking about the practice, Bismah said that T20 matches are very fast and fielding is one of the important factors of this game for which the fielding practice remained the prime focus.

She said the team would try to play good cricket in small margins to achieve better results. ‘

Bismah Maroof said that if we look at the past, all the matches won by the team were because of good combination and if we get two or three good performances in the world cup there will be good results.

She said that the current squad consisted of the best players and many of the players in it had performed very well in the past.

Responding to a question, national women T20 captain Bismah Maroof said, “Our team is on the improvement stage, Australia and England are far ahead of us but we have made good practice to tackle them. So one day we will be approaching world number one.

She said that many opportunities have been given to Erum Javed, Aaliyah Riaz and Nida Dar for hard hitting and these players have performed well on many occasions. “Bowling is definitely our strength, but we will try to play the full 20 overs, our team has the balance in both the batting and bowling areas and will try to do well in the batting and bowling,” she said.

The 15-member squad will depart for Australia on January 31 to participate in the mega event. The national women’s cricket team will play three warm-up matches against the West Indies Women’s Cricket Team on February 7, 9 and 11 before the event.

The national women’s cricket team is part of Group B of the mega event. Other teams in the group include England, South Africa, Thailand and the West Indies.

Pakistan will play its first match in the event against the West Indies on February 26. The national women’s cricket team will play against England on February 28, against South Africa on March 1st and Thailand on March 3rd.

The national squad includes Bisma Maroof (Captain), Ayman Anwar, Aaliyah Riaz, Anam Amin, Aisha Naseem, Diana Baig, Fatima Sana, Erum Javed, Jaweria Khan, Muniba Ali, Nida Dar, Umaima Sohail, Saadia Iqbal, Sidra Nawaz (Wicket Keeper) and Syeda Uroob Shah while officials include Syed Iqbal Imam (Head Coach), Saleem Jafar (Bowling Coach), Aamir Iqbal (Fielding Coach), Jamal Hussain (Strength & Conditioning Coach), Dr. Rafat Asghar Gul (Physiotherapist), Ayesha Jalil (Manager) and Zubair Ahmed (Analyst).

England women beat Pakistan in 1st T20