In the recently concluded bilateral series between Pakistan and Sri Lanka that was played in Karachi, the hosts Pakistan handed a crushing 3-0 defeat to the visitors Sri Lanka Women in the three-match T20I series and also won the three-match ODI series 2-1.
After a successful home series, Pakistan’s head coach David Hemp was very pleased with the team’s performance. Bismah Maroof led Pakistan in both formats. Pakistan won five matches on the trot, including three T20Is and two ODIs that were played at the Southend Club. Sri Lanka managed to end the tour with some dignity as they registered a 93-run win in the third and final ODI of the series.
After the third ODI, Hemp said, “Today [third ODI] was disappointing. We certainly didn’t do ourselves justice across all skillsets. But overall I am quite pleased with the five wins we achieved. The teams we will be scrapping for the 2025 World Cup qualification spots are likely to be teams like Sri Lanka and South Africa so every win and every point becomes important.”
He added, “It is a big positive for us that the games that we won we had a different player of the match in each game which means we are not relying on one or two key players. Tuba Hassan and Ghulam Fatima stepped up in the series and we didn’t have Nashra Sandhu here due to an injury. With all these players in the spinners pack, we have quality and depth for the selectors to consider. Amongst the batters it was great to see Sidra Amin score another century. I still believe as a batting group we can score 230-240 regularly and I want the players to be more consistent.”
The ODI series between Pakistan and Sri Lanka was played as a part of the 2022-25 cycle of the ICC Women’s Championship (IWC). After the successful series against Sri Lanka, Pakistan sit at the top of the 10-team table with four points. Only six out of the 10 teams, including the hosts, will qualify for the 2025 ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup.
Pakistan women’s team will next be seen in Ireland when they will take part in the T20I tri-series from July 16 to July 24, which will include the hosts Ireland and World T20 champions Australia. Before traveling to Ireland, the 15-member Pakistan squad will have a training camp in Islamabad. Immediately after the tri-series in Ireland, Pakistan will move to Birmingham to feature in the Commonwealth Games, again a T20 competition, that will be played from July 29 to August 7. Pakistan will have Australia, Barbados and India in their Group.
However, from the IWC perspective, Pakistan will only play an ODI series against Ireland in November when they will host the visitors for a three-match ODI series followed by a three-match T20I series.
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I am a former cricketer having represented Mumbai University at All India University level. I was a part of MCA probables for the U-19 and U-23 age group. I have been an avid cricket writer for the last five years. Currently I am pursuing my Ph.D from IIT Bombay.
