The highs and lows of women cricket team

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan women’s cricket team enjoyed some real highs, albeit with some lows, in what was an action-packed 2018.

The team featured in the Asia Cup, ICC Women’s Championship and the ICC Women’s World T20 2018 (which has been renamed as the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup).

In the Asia Cup, Pakistan finished third after losing the semi-final to eventual champions Bangladesh, won and lost their ODI series to Sri Lanka and Australia in the Championship, and qualified directly for the ICC Women’s World T20 2018, though failing to progress to the semi-finals of one of the toughest and most gruelling events in the women’s international calendar.

In addition, Pakistan also toured Bangladesh for four T20Is and an ODI, which were played at Cox’s Bazar. They won the T20I series 3-0 but lost the one-off ODI.

Pakistan’s tour to Sri Lanka for the ICC Women’s Championship also comprised three T20Is, which they won by a 2-1 margin.

In the series against Sri Lanka, Javeria Khan averaged an incredible 79.64 in the ODIs. She also notched up her second career century while scoring an unbeaten 113 (142b, 15x4) in the opening match of the series in Dambulla.

Seasoned campaigner Sana Mir took 10 wickets in the series, giving away a mere eight runs per wicket in the series.

Prior to the Caribbean disappointment, Pakistan had travelled to Kuala Lumpur for a three-ODI series that was part of the ICC Women’s Championship and three T20Is against world’s highest-ranked ODI and T20I side, Australia. Australia won all the six matches.

The highlight of the series for Pakistan was the performance of Sana Mir, who took three for 26, one for 37 and three for 53 to finish with seven wickets in the series. This performance was reflected in the ICC women’s ODI rankings, when Sana jumped three places to become the first Pakistani to top the bowling rankings.

There was disappointment at the ICC Women’s World T20, but there were also a couple of positives and great stories. Firstly, Javeria Khan, who had scored 136 runs, was name in the ICC Team of the Tournament, while Sana’s delivery to Ireland’s Laura Delany was voted as the Play of the ICC Women’s World T20 2018.