Pakistan women set to defend cricket title

National team camp for Asian Games to commence from Sept 14.

KARACHI:

The Pakistan national women cricket team’s training camp for the upcoming Asian Games will be held from September 14 to 17 to at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Lahore.

Pakistan will go into the 17th Asian Games as defending champions after winning the title back in 2010 in Guangzhou, China.

The team for the event will comprise 15 players and three officials who will travel to Incheon, South Korea.

Sana Mir will lead the squad and Bismah Maroof will be her deputy. Other players include Syeda Nain Abidi, Sidra Nawaz, Nida Rashid, Jaweria Wadood, Asmavia Iqbal, Marina Iqbal, Aliya Riaz, Kainat Imtiaz, Sumayya Siddiqui, Qanita Jalil, Sania Iqbal, Anam Amin and Sadia Yousuf.

Four players including Rabiya Shah, Maham Tariq, Iram Javed and Nahida Khan have been named as reserves.

Mohtashim Rasheed will continue working as team coach, while Ayesha Ashar will be the manager on the tour and physiotherapist Riffat Gill will accompany the team as well.

Pakistan recently toured Australia, where they were thrashed 4-0 in both ODI and T20 series and only a few players showed resistance against a tough opposition.

In the one-day series, Bismah starred for Pakistan, top-scoring with 140 with a best score of 53. She was also able to bag three wickets. Javeria Khan made 117 with a best of 54. All other players struggled, including skipper Sana, who could only manage 26 runs in four outings but was the best among bowlers, claiming eight wickets.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 11^th, 2014.

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