Kainat Imtiaz retires from international cricket

Pakistan fast bowler Kainat Imtiaz has announced her retirement from international cricket after a 13-year career in which she represented the women's team at the 2017 World Cup and won two Asian Games gold medals.

The right-arm pacer played 19 One-Day Internationals and 21 Twenty20 Internationals for Pakistan after making her T20I debut against South Africa in Potchefstroom in October 2010. She made her ODI debut against Ireland in Fatullah, Bangladesh.

Imtiaz, 34, was part of Pakistan's squads that won gold at the 2010 Asian Games in China and the 2014 edition in South Korea. She also represented Pakistan at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

She played four matches at the 2017 Women's Cricket World Cup and made her final ODI appearance against Australia at the Gabba in January 2023. Her last T20I came against Thailand in Sylhet in October 2022.

Imtiaz began her cricket journey with the Karachi Schools Under-17 team in the PCB National Schools Under-17 Women's Championship in 2007 before making her domestic List A debut in 2008.

She has already begun the next phase of her career, serving as a match referee at the PCB National Women's Under-19 T20 Tournament in August and September.

Cricket runs in the family. Imtiaz's mother, Saleema Imtiaz, became Pakistan's first woman umpire on the International Cricket Council's International Development Panel in 2024. She has since officiated nine women's ODIs and 69 women's T20 internationals.