LAHORE-Pakistan women cricket team captain Bismah Maroof paying rich tribute to just-retired former skipper Sana Mir has said that her contributions for the uplift of Pakistan women cricket are unforgetable.
In a virtual talk with sports journalists here on Tuesday, Bismah termed the former skipper a big name in women’s cricket and said: “Sana Mir has played a key role in development of the players under her as well as the women’s cricket on the whole in Pakistan. She is a legend and a true ambassador and she deserves a great credit as we all grew up under her dynamic leadership. In fact, she had great contributions in the uplift of women cricket in Pakistan, which are unforgetable.”
Mir announced her retirement on April 25 while the series she represented Pakistan was Bangladesh Women’s limited-overs tour of the country in October-November. Replying to a query regarding a farewell match for Mir, the women captain said: “I believe that Sana Mir did deserve a farewell match but the current circumstances didn’t allow the PCB to arrange a farewell match for the former skipper.”
Bismah, who took over the charge from Mir after the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2016, also expressed her disappointment over the decision of International Cricket Council (ICC) to equally split the ICC Women’s ODI Championship points after both the sides were unable to play their ICC Women’s Championship matches due to the latter’s political problems.
The 28-year old captain said her team was hoping that the PCB would take the matter to ICC’s dispute resolution committee. “It is obviously disappointing that we are sharing points despite the fact that we were always willing to play the series but reluctance came from India,” she said and added: “I am sure the PCB’s legal team is working on it and we will back whatever they decide.”
Bismah, despite the situation between both the neighbouring countries, sees positives for her side. “India earned points without playing any competitive cricket. I am looking to take positives out of this decision that we will get some more matches in the qualifying round,” she said.
The ICC’s technical committee, earlier this month, shared the points equally between Pakistan and India as it concluded that the series could not be played because of a Force Majeure event after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) demonstrated that it was unable to obtain the necessary government clearances. The decision of splitting the points equally allowed India to qualify for the ICC Women’s World Cup and pushed Pakistan to play the qualifiers. “This would have been easier to accept, if we had played some competitive cricket,” Bismah said.
She emphasized that Pakistan had no issues on their end. “Pakistan has always been willing to play as we always kept sports away from politics and it was disappointing that we couldn’t play those matches,” she said.
When asked about her role model in cricketing world, she revealed the name of India’s captain Virat Kohli as her favourite cricketer. “Kohli is my favorite and you don’t need to explain why he is one’s favorite. His work ethic and consistency make him a role model for everyone,” she added. To another query regarding revealing her ideal team, she picked Sana Mir as captain, while Meg Lanning, Ellyse Perry, Alyssa Healy, Mithali Raj and Harmanpreet Kaur as players.