“Unfortunately, Sana’s present form in T20 cricket hasn’t been great and we have taken into consideration two internationals series and domestic tournaments,” Mumtaz said. “There can be no doubt about her achievements, and the fact that she has been an inspiration in the sport. Her experience is unmatched but now we have an expanding pool of players and we have to pick players who are performing consistently.
“We’ve never had such a rich pool, so we have to look towards younger players. The average age of this side is 24, and that’s very exciting. The team has been selected keeping in mind current form and performances along with the conditions in Australia. Women cricketers have limited opportunities as compared to men to exhibit their form and Sana in the last series against Bangladesh hasn’t done a great deal, and later missed the England series. All we had was the domestic tournament in which she almost had an economy of ten in the first two games.” Last year, Mir skipped a chunk of the home series against Bangladesh, instead going to America on a personal visit. She returned to play the second T20I, and conceded 35 runs in four overs, before being left out of the last game. She played two ODIs against Bangladesh in Lahore and then took a surprise break from the all-important series against England in Malaysia, saying that she wanted to “reset her future objectives and targets”.
Shortly before the squad was announced on Monday, Mir posted a cryptic tweet: “Don’t blame a clown for acting like a clown. Ask yourself why you keep going to the circus.” Make of that what you will. It’s true that while Mir’s exclusion might have been a surprise to casual followers of the game, relations between her and the Pakistan management haven’t been especially cordial of late.
She was removed from the captaincy in 2017 and the then women’s general manger Shamsa Hashmi had said that she had been trying to control Mir’s “manoeuvring and hegemony by counselling”. Her captaincy was severely criticised by Shamsa, who accused her of taking “shocking on-field decisions”. Then, later, Pakistan’s winless 2017 World Cup campaign ended with head coach Sabih Azhar accusing Mir of adopting a “negative approach” and being “completely self-obsessed”. After this latest development, one wonders whether Mir, now 34, will be able to add to her 106 T20I and 120 ODI appearances.
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