It was the biggest shock for Pakistan Women’s cricket, that Sana Mir Announces Break From International Cricket.
It’s a bit of a harsh assessment to singularly brand India as a country where cricket often functions as a parallel religion.
What about Pakistan?
The number of its parks, city grounds, rural maidans, or turfs might not outweigh India’s tally, for the sheer size of India’s neighbor could be likened to that of the horn of a rhino if India’s the rhino, but at any given opportunity Pakistan’s cricket-crazed audience breaks into a bowling opportunity and prepares to swat the bat wherever there is space and opportunity.
That’s where the likes of Wasim Akram, Hanif Mohammad, Shoaib Akhtar, Saeed Anwar, Shahid Afridi, and Naseem Shah have come from.
Precious cricketing talents in Pakistan weren’t birthed inside big conference rooms or green rooms of mega-corporate brands that fund the game and pull the audiences to a Gadaffi stadium or elsewhere in this age of wham-bam T20 Cricket.
Pakistan’s greatest cricketing talents have emanated from a sheer cricket-loving space.
Sana Mir is no different!
Sana Mir didn’t evolve from a culture of privilege or from a life that had it all in plenty; Sana Mir emerged from the sheer passion and unparalleled dedication to the game.
And on her watch, the women’s game in Pakistan has grown by leaps and bounds. It may not be the most fear-stimulating outfit in the women’s game a bit like Australia, where one precocious talent after another spells a bit of anxiety for the opponents.
But Pakistan Women’s outfit is a competitive, cricket-loving unit that surrenders individual interests in front of the collective ideal to scale new heights in the sport.
Rise of Sana Mir
It reflects a culture that Sana Mir herself fostered as the leaders of the white-ball cricket in her country. It’s a culture that Bismah Maroof is willing to continue for the betterment of the side.
But as the doting daughter of Pakistan Women’s side decides to step away, one wonders how might have the Pakistan Women’s side taken the decision?
To simply say that Sana Mir is a superstar of Pakistan Women’s side would be putting it blandly. Implicit in the uncomplicated elan of this cricketer is a sheer desire for success.
Pakistan have defended and won, on several occasions, despite putting up modest totals because they had Sana Mir in their ranks. A bowler of off-break, a specialist at putting brakes on the batswomen, a defender of Pakistan’s glory, a mighty hand in international cricket.
But Mir’s break from international cricket, an indefinite one, should also give a chance to the team to have a good relook at themselves.
Not because the team are now a depleted unit.
Because the Pakistan Women’s bowling attack will have to rebuild.
The likes of Asmavia Iqbal are retired. The likes of Sana Mir, with 240 international wickets in white-ball cricket, have peaked. At 33, Mir, with a decade and a half of playing experience isn’t getting any younger.
A new Pakistan women’s bowling attack lies in the making.
The obvious ingredients for success are already there- Nida Dar, Nashra Sandhu, Aliya Riaz. The polishing of the talent, the harnessing of all that tremendous skill is the next crucial step in the offing.
Like most sub-continental sides gifted with a knack of delivering excellence with the ball, Pakistan Women’s bowling attack possesses the ace of pace and the bite of spin.
And to its good fortune, it doesn’t have to begin completely anew. It just has to reorganize itself for the course of the future. It’s great if Mir, should she decide to re-enter competitive cricket, begin again. Who wouldn’t want a timeless matchwinner back in the hunt again?
But it’s even better that under Bismah Maroof’s purposeful leadership and beside Javaria Khan’s watchfulness, the team finds its footing to prepare for a future without Mir, should it be that way.
And it mustn’t worry them for Pakistan still have the problem of plenty instead of the precariousness of having talents too few.
In Diana Baig, there’s a mover of the cricket ball, someone who can generate lateral movement off the surface and pitch the ball in good areas all the time.
Nashra Sandhu is the pick of the spinners and can habitually deceive with her slow-left arm orthodox foxiness. At 24 and 22, respectively, two of Pakistan’s most enterprising bowlers have all the time in their hands to make mistakes, take wickets, struggle, learn and be back in the game again.
Nida Dar, a clean striker of the ball, someone with the penchant of hitting the ball hard and the aptitude to bowl neatly competes with the shrewdness of a miserly exponent of the game. She’s got experience and moreover, playing currently in Australia will remind her of just what is up ahead for 2020.
In a valuable and growing bunch of bowling talents, Pakistan should look at the future with bright optimism instead of resorting to worry about the ‘what next’ being without Mir.
Their next big assignment is to compete easily against the brightest side beside Australia: England. Regardless of the outcome, the series will fetch tremendous experience. It is here that Pakistan Women’s bowling attack will be tested to the hilt and shall carve a path for whatever’s the next course of action.
Against Brunt, Sciver, Shrubsole, Marsh, Beaumont, Wyatt, and the likes- there’ll be a clear path to what is and what can be done.
With two of the finest stroke-makers in Javaria and Bismah, Pakistan’s set-up posits a thrill concerning what lies ahead. And it is here that Pakistan must look within instead of seeking without.
What do you think about the Sana Mir Announces Break From International Cricket? Is it good or bad for pakistan women’s cricket.
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