From Abbottabad to Pakistani colours, 17-year-old Pakistan middle-order batter Ayesha Naseem has had a fruitful journey. To announce herself to the global audience, Ayesha in her Commonwealth Games debut against Barbados struck a six to have her tally ticking. She straightaway put out a message that defines a lot about her style of play and self-belief.
Ayesha when received her first call-up for Pakistan was only 15 Y/O and her journey had begun with Abbottabad when she was only 11 Y/O in the Women’s Cricket Championship back in 2016. She continued to impress everyone in the domestic circuit appearing for the Pakistan Cricket Board Women’s XI in the departmental domestic T20 Women’s Championship early in 2019 where she’d registered a good 64 for Blasters in the women’s Twenty20 tournament.
What makes Ayesha Naseem a talking point in today’s time is her style of play, the aggressive and intentful batting in a silent Pakistan squad which makes her a standout player. She’s in no time become a crucial part of the Pakistan squad as her services to the side are invaluable. Though, Ayesha Naseem hasn’t had the start to her international journey that she would have wished for as performances haven’t come to the standards she’d promised on the back of top domestic scores. She’s relatively new to international cricket and playing with absolute freedom now is seeing her dismissed cheaply, but one will hope with time she adds maturity to her game that’ll project her to the deserving standards.
Ayesha made her T20I debut against Thailand early in March 2020. Later in the same year, she was named in Pakistan’s squad for their series against South Africa and also was shortlisted as one of the Women’s Emerging Cricketer of the Year for the 2020 Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Awards. In June 2021, she was named in Pakistan’s squad for their series against the West Indies where she made her One Day International (ODI) debut on 12 July.
In the ODI format, in 3 innings she’s scored 33 runs averaging a low 11 with the highest score of 16 and strike rate just below 100. In the T20I format, in her 13 innings, she’s got to 196 runs with the highest score of 45* that’d come first against the West Indies and then Sri Lanka. She has got a good strike rate of 122.50 in the format but has got to work on playing with maturity and raise her current average of 19.60.
Ayesha Naseem is a very exciting prospect for cricket in near future and is someone who can serve Pakistan cricket for a very long time if she’s given the right sort of feedback, backing and support. Ayesha Naseem 2.O is what fans await as one expects it to be filled with experience and maturity that’ll reflect an excellent image of the promising cricketer Ayesha Naseem is.
