Lahore: Left-arm spinner Nashra Sundhu on Wednesday was named as fast bowler Fatima Sanas replacement in Pakistan’s squad for upcoming Women’s T20 Asia Cup. Fatima has been ruled out of the tournament due to ankle injury.
Fatima was injured after twisting her ankle while playing for Barbados Royals in the Women’s Caribbean Premier League (CPL). In the league, she represented Barbados Royals, picking three wickets in as many matches. She had also played for the side in the inaugural Women’s 6ixty, a T10 tournament in the Caribbean, taking two wickets in five matches.
Fatima’s replacement, left-arm orthodox spinner Nashra has featured for Pakistan in 77 matches (49 ODIs, 28 T20Is), picking 63 and 23 wickets respectively. She was amongst the four previously announced reserve players for the Women’s T20 Asia Cup, scheduled to take place in Sylhet, Bangladesh from October 1 to 15.
Pakistan women’s team are currently undergoing a 10-day camp at Lahore Country Club in Muridke. The national side will fly out for Bangladesh on September 28. The Bismah Maroof-led side will play their opening match in the tournament against Malaysia on October 2 at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium. They will also play against hosts and defending champions Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and UAE in a round-robin format.
Each team will be playing six matches as per the round-robin format. The top four sides will advance to the semi-finals, scheduled for October 13, before the title clash happens on October 15. The tournament was originally slated to take place in Bangladesh in 2020, but was later moved to 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and was ultimately cancelled.
All the matches of 2022 Women’s T20 Asia Cup will be held at Sylhet International Cricket Stadium and Sylhet Outer Cricket Stadium. The first match begins at 9am local time while the second match will commence from 1.30pm local time.
Pakistan squad: Bismah Maroof (c), Aimen Anwar, Aliya Riaz, Ayesha Naseem, Diana Baig, Kainat Imtiaz, Muneeba Ali (wk), Nida Dar, Omaima Sohail, Nashra Sundhu, Sadaf Shamas, Sadia Iqbal, Sidra Amin, Sidra Nawaz (wk) and Tuba Hasan
Reserve players: Natalia Pervaiz, Umme Hani and Waheeda Akhtar
–IANS