Pakistan women’s cricket team has surprised many with their World Cup qualification feat.
Winning all five matches in the World Cup qualifying round indicates a huge improvement in their game.
Very few had expected the national women’s team would beat the mighty West Indies and fast-rising Bangladesh in the Qualifying round, which was played in Lahore. Not only did Pakistan beat the two favourite teams, but upstaged them in a commanding manner.
Under former Pakistan international Mohammad Waseem as head coach, the women players showed great competitiveness, aggression and resolve to win. As they say, “success breeds success,” this qualification gives rise to hope that the Fatima Sana-led team will achieve better results in the World Cup in October this year, where they face top teams like Australia, England, India, South Africa, Sri Lanka and New Zealand.
The improvement player-wise was notable. Fatima was the second highest wicket taker with 12 and showed brilliant allround skills with 62 not out and 3-39 against Thailand. Aliyah Riaz showed how useful she can be in the white-ball cricket while Muniba Ali and Sidra Ameen also showed skill in batting.
Wicket-taking duo
Spinners Sadia Iqbal and Nashra Sandhu are wicket-taking bowlers and are improving with every game. The comeback of fast bowler Diana Baig was also significant and helped the team enormously.
The recent results in men’s cricket have left the fans disheartened and despondent.
But cricket is the only sport where Pakistan excels and gives happiness to the people. This means fans and cricket are inextricably linked. In this backdrop, the success of the women’s team is a breath of fresh air and should be celebrated.
When we speak about women’s cricket, the Pakistan team does not attract the attention of the masses. Over the years, the good results are far and very few in between, and the progress is at a snail’s pace. Three years ago, the Pakistan team lost to Thailand in the Asia Cup T20 tournament in Bangladesh, but in the very next game, they beat archrivals India. They beat Sri Lanka in the league match before going down to the same opponents in the semi-final. In 2023, Pakistan women won a rare T20I series in New Zealand but lost at home to South Africa and the West Indies.
The World Championship of ODIs – the direct qualification process for the World Cup – saw Pakistan finish ninth out of ten teams.
They lost 15 of the 24 matches and had to play the qualifying rounds. Their recent record against the West Indies and Bangladesh showed a gloomy picture, losing four out of five matches with just one win. These figures cast aspersions on Pakistan’s chances of qualification.
Hybrid model
But Pakistan’s women team defied all these fears. Their qualification means India will be forced to host the ODI World Cup on a hybrid model in an arrangement approved before the Champions Trophy.
India’s refusal to send its men’s team to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy had forced the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to reach a decision that they will also not send the Pakistan team to India for an ICC event until 2027.
Coming back to the women team’s performance, it deserves some rewards. When Pakistan won their final match against Bangladesh, the PCB chief Mohsin Naqvi came to watch the win.
He was about to announce a cash award for the team, but head coach Wasim intervened and requested that the reward should be long-term. His suggestion was to give the women players a hike in their central contract earnings.
Fair enough from the head coach, as women players have never been treated properly. Ironically, their poor showings at the international level had never justified any increase.
Credit to the present set up under Mhosin Naqvi that they hiked the annual budget of women’s cricket from Rs70 million to Rs240 million in July last year.
Salary and rewards
With the team now showing great improvement, it needed to be readdressed. Under the central contract, women players listed in “A” category get Rs0.3 million per month, those listed in “B” get Rs0.2 million, those in “C” are awarded Rs0.15 million and players in category “D” earn Rs0.1 million per month.
Around 70 per cent of the players are in the “D” category. Comparatively, a mentor (we have five including Waqar Younis, Misbah-ul-Haq, Saqlain Mushtaq, Shoaib Malik and Sarfaraz Ahmed, who get Rs5 million) gets Rs10 million on winning a domestic women’s competition!
Comparing this with what India gets, notwithstanding the big money the Board of Control for Cricket in India have and the success the Indian women’s team has achieved, the remunerations our players get look nominal.
“A category Indian player gets five million INR a year, which is around 15 million in our currency. The other two categories get three and one million, respectively.
The achievements of Pakistan’s women’s cricket team in the World Cup Qualifiers have made fans take notice and changed the perception that our women can’t compete at the international level.
This should elevate their status, exposure and finances. They must stick to the coaching staff which has brought about this improvement, and there should be encouragement and not interference or negligence.
