Marina Iqbal steps down from her role as Pakistan national selector

Marina Iqbal has resigned from her role as one of Pakistan’s national selectors on Friday (August 27). She made her decision to step down from three-member selection committee to focus on her broadcasting career.



34-year-old Marina was appointed by Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) as a member of the all-women selection committee headed by former captain Urooj Mumtaz along with former pacer Asmavia Iqbal in March 2019. In June this year, she was selected for ICC 100% Cricket Future Leaders Programme in Media and Journalism second batch that’s scheduled to start in November.



“The structural work needed in Pakistan women’s cricket is done. So now is an appropriate time to move on,” Marina told Women’s CricZone on her decision to quit from the job.



Marina, who represented Pakistan in 78 international matches across ODIs and T20Is, said it was a great learning opportunity to be part of the selection committee but she decided to move on as it was becoming difficult to switch between her role as a selectors and her stint in commentary.



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“It has been an honour to serve as a member of the national women's selection committee which provided another great learning opportunity to me,” she said in the PCB statement. “I have made this decision to give more time to cricket commentary following my induction in the ICC future leaders programme. I felt that in my current role as a national selector, it was difficult to carry out the two roles simultaneously.”



Marina started her career as a selector picking Pakistan squads for ICC Women’s Championship against South Africa and England before selecting the side for home series against Bangladesh. She was also part of the committee that named Pakistan team for T20 World Cup 2020 in Australia. Her last assignment was when Pakistan’s tour of West Indies this year.



“I will continue to follow our women's team, which possesses immense potential, from behind the mic, and wish well to all players for the upcoming assignments,” Marina concluded.