Pakistan announces largely unchanged squad for the South African tour

New Update
Bismah Maroof-Nida Dar: A partnership of perception and passion

Bismah Maroof in action for Pakistan. ©ICC

The newly appointed all-female national selection committee, headed by Urooj Mumtaz has named Pakistan's ODI and T20 squad for their tour of South Africa. The tour consists of three ODIs before moving on to the T20 leg for five matches. The ODIs are part of the ICC Women's Championship, with up to six points at stake. These will be crucial for Pakistan, who sitting at number six, are one point behind South Africa. Following the teams recent success against the Windies women, where they registered a historic series win against the Carribbean crew on home soil, the selectors have found it best to maintain consistency. Hence, the ODI squad sees 13 of the 14 players from that series retained.



Uncapped spinner Rameen Shamim, who recently captained PCB Women's XI during the Inter-departmental Women's T20 Championship replaces Saba Nazir. Jaweria Rauf also earns a recall into the 15-strong squad, having played her last ODI in January 2012. Despite a 1-2 series loss to the Windies in the shortest format, much of the T20 squad has also been retained. Only two changes have been made with Anam Amin and Natalia Pervaiz making way for Rauf and Kainat Imtiaz. Shamim has also been added to the squad, making it a 15 member one.



Fareeha Mehmood, Fatima Sana, Muneeba Ali and Nazir have all been named as the reserves for the series. Following the announcement of the squad, Mumtaz said, "We have rewarded the girls for their outstanding achievements against the Windies girls by maintaining consistency in the ODI squad, while we have made some tweaks in the T20I squad as we look forward to next year’s ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020.

“We have a good bunch of cricketers who have displayed their capabilities and potentials against the Windies girls in the previous series. When we played South Africa in an ODI series last time, we narrowly lost 1-2, but I am hopeful we will be able to build on our success against the Windies girls and be able to do one better this time on the African safari.



“We have an excellent mix of senior and junior cricketers. I am sure under the wings of the experienced girls, the youngsters will thrive and make optimum use of the increased opportunities as these are extremely interesting times for women’s cricket as far as more chances of exposure and experience exist, with enhanced performance-related incentives.”



Squads



ODI: Bismah Maroof (c), Aiman Anwar, Aliya Riaz, Diana Baig, Javeria Khan, Jaweria Rauf, Kainat Imtiaz, Nahida Khan, Nashra Sandhu, Nida Dar, Rameen Shamim, Sana Mir, Sidra Amin, Sidra Nawaz (wk), Omaima Sohail



T20: Bismah Maroof (c), Aiman Anwar, Aliya Riaz, Diana Baig, Iram Javed, Javeria Khan, Jaweria Rauf, Kainat Imtiaz, Nashra Sandhu, Nida Dar, Rameen Shamim, Sana Mir, Sidra Amin, Sidra Nawaz (wk), Omaima Sohail
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