As she gets ready to lead her team in the 50-over World Cup later this month, Pakistan women’s cricket team captain Fatima Sana draws inspiration from India’s World Cup-winning captain MS Dhoni and hopes to become “Captain Cool” like him.
Following an agreement between the BCCI and the PCB, Pakistan will play all of its matches in Sri Lanka, which is co-hosting the Women’s World Cup, that is scheduled to start on September 30.
On October 2, Pakistan, who were undefeated in the April qualifiers, will play Bangladesh in Colombo to begin their campaign.
“It is natural to be a little nervous initially when captaining in a big tournament like the World Cup, but I take inspiration from Mahendra Singh Dhoni as a captain,” Fatima told PTI Bhasha in an interview ahead of the World Cup.
“I have seen his matches as India and CSK captain. His on-field decision-making, calmness and the way he backs his players, there is a lot to learn from that. When I got the captaincy, I thought that I have to become like Dhoni. I also watched his interviews and got to learn a lot,” she said.
On August 15, 2020, Dhoni announced his retirement from international cricket, and on May 6, 2019, Fatima played her first ODI match against South Africa.
Pakistan have featured in five editions of the Women’s ODI World Cup (1997, 2009, 2013, 2017 and 2022), but struggled to make an impact. They went winless in 1997, 2013 and 2017, while their only success in the 2022 campaign came against the West Indies in Hamilton before finishing at the bottom after losing the rest of their matches.
The youngsters are aware that their performance will determine the future of women’s cricket in the nation, therefore all-rounder Fatima, who has amassed 397 runs and claimed 45 wickets in 34 ODIs, is optimistic that the jinx will be broken this time.
“This time, the jinx will definitely be broken because the young players know how important this tournament is for Pakistan women’s cricket. We will not think about the past. My goal is to take the team to the semifinals,” she added.
“In Pakistan, girls have started playing cricket in schools and international matches are being telecast live. ICC has also taken a good initiative by increasing the prize money for the Women’s World Cup, which will inspire budding players in Pakistan. But there is still a barrier which we have to break through this tournament,” she said.
“In our country, women’s cricket is not seen as a career option. But if we play well, it will make a huge difference. Our effort will be to inspire parents in Pakistan to encourage their girls to make a career in sports,” said the all-rounder.
Although she believes that bowlers will be crucial to the team’s success, she also emphasized that batting has seen significant improvement over the past year.
“We have top-class bowlers in the team and spinners will be our trump card. We will depend more on bowling than batting but in the last one year, we have worked a lot on batting and we will get results,” she said.
According to her, the three-match series against South Africa prior to the tournament will aid in building the team combination, and the emphasis will be on maintaining the rhythm of the qualifiers.
“The team is in good rhythm and after the good performance in the qualifiers, everyone’s morale is high. More or less the same players are in the team who played in the qualifiers. This is the first World Cup for six players and they are very excited.”
The captain is happy with the preparations, despite the fact that the team, which is practicing in Lahore, has only played domestic games since the qualifiers in April.
“We had played matches among ourselves in domestic cricket. Before the tournament, we will play a series with South Africa in which we will try to prepare the team combination. We would like the players to play naturally without the pressure of the World Cup,” she said.
Fatima stated that while it is impossible to anticipate the four semifinalists, India has also continuously performed well, and she referred to Australia as a serious challenger for the championship.
“My favourite team is Australia. It is difficult to predict the semifinalists but India’s performance has been very good in the last few years. They have very experienced players like Jemimah (Rodrigues), Smriti (Mandhana) and Harmanpreet (Kaur) but we will not focus on any one player.”
She noted that India will be under more pressure because they are the hosts, but they will also benefit from playing at home.
“India have never won the World Cup and being the host, there will be pressure to win. But along with this, the presence of home fans also boosts the morale. It depends on the team how it takes it.”
Fatima, a huge admirer of Australia star Ellyse Perry, began playing street cricket in Karachi with her brothers when she was eleven years old. She lost her father during last year’s T20 World Cup, but she put her country’s needs ahead of her personal grief.
Sachin Tendulkar, who returned to play in the 1999 World Cup following the death of his father, was evocative of Fatima’s tenacity and resolve. After losing his father while he was a youngster, Virat Kohli participated in the Ranji Trophy the following day.
“My father dreamed of watching me play in the World Cup. I went back to play to fulfil his wish. I knew that Virat also did the same.”
