KARACHI: Pakistan’s best women cricketers will be in action here from Friday (tomorrow) in the Pakistan Cup Women’s Cricket Tournament 2022-23. The tournament has been designed to provide maximum matches to these cricketers and will be played in two iterations – in the first, four sides will play T20 matches on round-robin basis and three teams will play one-day matches on double round-robin basis with the final on June 4. The first phase of the tournament will see probables for ACC Women’s Emerging Teams Asia Cup — to be played in Hong Kong in June —- showcase their skills, talent and get the desired match practice in challenging conditions under the banner of Strikers. The team will be captained by Pakistan ace fast bowler Fatima Sana. The other three sides are Blasters, captained by Muneeba Ali, Pakistan’s only batter to score a century in T20Is, Challengers, led by left-arm orthodox Sadia Iqbal, and Dynamites, skippered by right-handed top-order batter Sidra Amin.
These six T20 matches will be played from May 19 to 21 at Hanif Mohammad High Performance Centre Oval Ground and State Bank Ground. From May 23, Blasters, Challengers and Dynamites will feature in the 50-over tournament. The three teams will take on each other twice and the top two teams will play the final at the State Bank Ground, which will be live-streamed on PCB YouTube channel. In line with its policy of incentivising top-performers, the winning side will bag PKR1million and the runners-up will get PKR500,000. Player of the match award winners will get PKR20,000 and the player of the tournament will get PKR 50,000.
Explaining the philosophy behind holding the tournament in two phases, Head of Women’s Cricket, Tania Mallick said: “I am thrilled to announce the upcoming Pakistan Cup Women’s Cricket Tournament in Karachi. This is a fantastic opportunity for our talented women cricketers to showcase their skills and compete against each other. We have planned the tournament in two phases to offer a diverse range of formats and challenges to the players. The first phase will feature four teams playing in the T20 format, providing valuable experience and preparation for our Pakistan Emerging team players, who will represent us in the Emerging ACC Women’s T20 Tournament later next month. The second phase of the tournament will see three teams competing in the one-day format, and I am confident that this phase will offer high-quality cricket and thrilling competition.”
Squads for the Pakistan Cup Women’s Cricket Tournament
1: Blasters —- Muneeba Ali (captain), Aleena Shah, Anam Amin, Asma Amin, Ayesha Bilal, Ayesha Javed, Ayesha Zafar, Diana Baig, Fajar Naveed, Iram Javed, Kainat Imtiaz, Saba Nazir, Saiqa Riaz, Zaib-un-Nisa and Zunera Shah. Support staff: Mauhtashim Rashid (head coach), Nahida Bibi (assistant coach), Qurat ul Ain Kazmi (manager) and Areesha Anwar (physiotherapist).
2: Challengers —- Sadia Iqbal (captain), Aima Saleem, Amber Kainat, Areesha Noor, Fareeha Mehmood, Fatima Zehra, Huraina Sajjad, Javeria Khan, Javeria Rauf, Kaynat Hafeez, Maham Tariq, Masooma Zehra, Noreen Yaqoob, Saima Malik and Warda Yousaf. Support staff: Taufeeq Umar (head coach), Hajra Sarwar (assistant coach), Shagufta Kazim (manager) and Bisma Ahmed (physiotherapist).
3: Dynamites —- Sidra Amin (captain), Aliya Riaz, Bismah Maroof, Fatima Shahid, Ghulam Fatima, Humna Bilal, Khadija Chishti, Laiba Nasir, Maham Manzoor, Nashra Sundhu, Omaima Sohail, Rameen Shamim, Sidra Nawaz, Waheeda Akhtar and Yusra Amir. Support staff: Waseem Yousafi (head coach), Rehmat Gull (assistant coach), Saira Iftikhar (manager) and Ammara Fatima (physiotherapist).
4: Strikers —- Fatima Sana (captain), Anoosha Nasir, Dua Majid, Eyman Fatima, Fatima Khan, Gull Feroza, Gulrukh, Lubna Behram, Najiha Alvi, Natalia Parvaiz, Sadaf Shamas, Shawaal Zulfiqar, Syeda Aroob Shah, Tuba Hassan and Umm-e-Hani. Support staff: Mohsin Kamal (head coach), Muhammad Kamran (assistant coach), Aisha Jalil (manager) and Rabia Siddiq (physiotherapist).
Tournament schedule (matches to start at 9am):
First phase (T20 format)
May 19 — Dynamites vs Blasters, State Bank Ground, Challengers vs Strikers, Oval Academy Ground.
May 20 — Dynamites vs Challengers, State Bank Ground, Blasters vs Strikers, Oval Academy Ground.
May 21 —Dynamites vs Strikers, State Bank Ground, Blasters vs Challengers, Oval Academy Ground.
Second phase (50-over format)
May 23 — Blasters vs Dynamites, State Bank Ground
May 25 — Blasters vs Challengers, State Bank Ground
May 27 — Dynamites vs Challengers, State Bank Ground
May 29 — Dynamites vs Blasters, State Bank Ground
May 31 — Challengers vs Blasters, State Bank Ground
June 2 — Challengers vs Dynamites, State Bank Ground
June 4 — Final, State Bank Ground.