Familiar Faces Return As Pakistan Name Women's Squads For South Africa White-ball Tour

Familiar faces return as Pakistan name women's squads for South Africa white-ball tour (Image Source: IANS)

Hanif Mohammad High Performance Centre: The Pakistan Cricket Board announced the ODI and T20I squads for the women’s team for the upcoming South Africa tour, which begins on February 10 in Potchefstroom.

Fatima Sana will remain the captain in both formats as Pakistan prepares for the ICC Women’s T20I World Cup 2026 in June.

Aliya Riaz, Ayesha Zafar, Gull Feroza, Muneeba Ali, Nashra Sundhu, Natalia Parvaiz, Rameen Shamim, Sadia Iqbal, Sidra Amin, and Tasmia Rubab are included in both squads. Meanwhile, uncapped batter Saira Jabeen and right-arm fast bowler Humna Bilal have received their first T20I call-ups.

Ayesha and Gull, the opening batters, along with left-arm pacer Tasmia and wicketkeeper-batter Najiha Alvi, have been included in the 15-member ODI squad after not being selected for the ODI World Cup.

Diana Baig, Najiha, Sadaf Shamas, and Syeda Aroob Shah are included in the 50-over squad, while Humna, Saira, Tuba Hassan, and Eyman Fatima are part of the T20I squad exclusively.

The pre-series training camp will start on Sunday, February 1, at the Hanif Mohammad High Performance Centre in Karachi.

The T20I matches are scheduled to take place in Potchefstroom, Benoni, and Kimberley from February 10 to 16, with all games played as day-night fixtures. Pakistan's preparations for the ODI series will include a warm-up 50-over match at Kimberley, followed by three ODIs scheduled in Bloemfontein, Centurion, and Durban from February 22 to March 1.

The second ODI is scheduled to start in the afternoon and will be played under lights. In contrast, the warm-up, first, and third ODIS will be day games.

The Pakistan Women’s team will be visiting South Africa again for a bilateral series, their first since January 2021, when they played a three-match ODI series in Durban. In February 2023, they participated in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup held in South Africa, playing matches in Cape Town and Paarl.

T20I squad:

Fatima Sana (c), Aliya Riaz, Ayesha Zafar, Eyman Fatima, Gull Feroza (wk), Humna Bilal, Muneeba Ali (wk), Nashra Sundhu, Natalia Parvaiz, Rameen Shamim, Sadia Iqbal, Saira Jabeen, Sidra Amin, Tasmia Rubab, and Tuba Hassan

T20I squad:

Fatima Sana (c), Aliya Riaz, Ayesha Zafar, Diana Baig, Gull Feroza, Muneeba Ali (wk), Najiha Alvi (wk), Nashra Sundhu, Natalia Parvaiz, Rameen Shamim, Sadaf Shamas, Sadia Iqbal, Sidra Amin, Syeda Aroob Shah and Tasmia Rubab

Article Source: IANS