We don't need to change anything, women’s cricket is going in the right direction, says Bismah Maroof

Bismah Maroof, Pakistan captain, feels women’s cricket could lose its competitiveness if the recently suggested innovations are acted upon. Innovations like using smaller ball and reducing the size of the pitch were first suggested during ICC’s ‘100 % Innovations’ webinar moderated by former cricketer turned commentator Melanie Jones.



“I am not a big fan of it. If we reduce the length of the pitch, size of the ball or the size of the boundaries, in my opinion, the competitiveness of the game will suffer,” Maroof said in the Pakistan Cricket Board’s podcast.



ALSO READ: Shikha Pandey says 'superfluous' changes should not be made to the game



There has been lot of debate about the suggested innovations with various cricketers voicing their opinion. With India batter Jemimah Rodrigues suggesting shortening the pitch and Sophie Devine, New Zealand skipper, reckoning smaller balls could be a possibility.



Shikha Pandey, India’s pace bowling allrounder, called these suggestions as superfluous in a series of tweets and requested the administrator to have the patience to let the game evolve naturally over time.



“Please don’t bring the boundaries in! We have surprised you with our power-hitting in recent times, so remember, this is only the beginning; we will get better. Please have patience. We are skilled players, who are evolving,” Pandey tweeted.



ALSO READ: There is no need to change anything: Jhulan Goswami



Maroof, who played over 200 international matches across formats for Pakistan, feels women’s cricket has been evolving rapidly in the last few years. “If you see in the last three-four years women’s cricket has improved immensely. We were playing with the same set of rules when 80,000 people witness the T20 World Cup final, which never happened before.”



“It shows that women’s cricket is going in the right direction and the coming the years are bright for women’s cricket,” she added.