After Pakistan’s home series against Sri Lanka, it now is Ireland who for the first time will arrive in Pakistan and on their tour are set to play a 6-match white-ball series. The sides are scheduled to contest over 3 One-Day Internationals (ODI’s) and 3 Twenty20 Internationals (T20I’s) at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.
Pakistan’s ODI Squad: Bismah Maroof (C), Aimen Anwar, Aliya Riaz, Fatima Sana, Ghulam Fatima, Kainat Imtiaz, Muneeba Ali (WK), Nashra Sandhu, Nida Dar, Omaima Sohail, Sadaf Shamas, Sadia Iqbal, Sidra Amin, Sidra Nawaz (WK) and Umm-e-Hani
Reserves: Ayesha Naseem and Tuba Hassan
Pakistan’s T20I Squad: Bismah Maroof (c), Aimen Anwar, Aliya Riaz, Ayesha Naseem, Fatima Sana, Javeria Khan, Kainat Imtiaz, Muneeba Ali (wk), Nida Dar, Omaima Sohail, Nashra Sandhu, Sadaf Shamas, Sadia Iqbal, Sidra Amin and Tuba Hassan
Reserves : Ghulam Fatima, Sidra Nawaz and Umm-e-Hani
Pakistan in their lead-up to the series are undergoing a four-day pre-series camp in Lahore. The players contested in a 45-over intra-squad match between Bismah Maroof-led Pakistan Whites against Nida Dar-led Pakistan Blues. Pakistan Whites batting first had skipper, Bismah opening the innings, top score with a 116-ball-102 which included 13 fours, while Omaima Sohail followed with the next best score of 25 off 29 balls and the team finished on 223/9. Blues with the ball had Nida Dar pick 3/31 (8) and uncapped Umm-e-Hani with her off-spin picked up two wickets.
Blues’ in reply had their target revised to 190 to get from 37 overs. Blues had opening batters, Javeria Khan and Sidra Amin provided the team with a century-run opening stand that came to a close with 103 on board. Javeria top-scored with a 65-ball-51, while Sidra scored 40 off 69. Aliya Riaz and Ayesha Naseem’s 84-run unbeaten run-stand powered the Blues’ to chase down the target with 4 balls to spare. Ayesha’s 40(31) included a couple of sixes and 3 fours, while Aliya scored 34 off 37, which included 4 fours and a maximum.
The 3-match ODI series is a part of the ICC Women’s Championship 2022-25 and the series is the 2nd for both sides, Pakistan and Ireland. While, results from their 1st series see Pakistan with a 2-1 series win against Sri Lanka with 4 points to their name and Ireland having lost their series, 0-3 to South Africa, are yet to get their first points on the board.
Bismah Maroof on her innings commented, “It was a good practice game for us as we have been playing T20 format lately. The practice game will help us to acclimatize to the longer format as we have to play three ODI matches first against Ireland. I am personally satisfied with my today’s performance, the innings helped me spend time in the middle which will help me to prepare myself for the upcoming series.”
While Ireland is scheduled to arrive in Pakistan later this week, Pakistan players after a rest day will again take the field on the 29th of October for another intra-squad match.
