Sundhu replaces Sana in Pakistan’s squad for Asia Cup
Lahore:let-arm spinner Nashra Sundhu on Wednesday was named as fast bowler Fatima Sana’s 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 ater 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, let-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 Oct.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 Sept.28.
The Bismah Maroof-led side will play their opening match in the tournament against Malaysia on Oct.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 Oct.13, before the title clash happens on Oct.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.
Earlier, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Wednesday announced a 15-member India squad to be led by Harmanpreet Kaur in the upcoming Women’s T20 Asia Cup. India have picked young right-handed bater
Jemimah Rodrigues in the squad despite her not taking part in the series against England due to a hand injury sustained in The Hundred competition while playing for the Northern Superchargers, with Harmanpreet revealing that she is still undergoing rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru.
From the squad which recently lost the T20I series in England 2-1, wicketkeeper-bater Taniyaa Sapna Bhatia and pace all-rounder Simran Dil Bahadur have been moved to being reserve players. Richa Ghosh, the young wicketkeeper-bater, manages to retain her place in the squad ater having got the nod ahead of Yastika Bhatia for the T20IS against England.
India have also retained all-rounder Dayalan Hemalatha, who made her international comeback ater 2019, and power-hiter Kiran Navgire, who debuted in the format earlier this month, despite the duo not being able to produce great performances on tour of England.
India are the most successful team in the history of the competition, having won six titles. The Women’s Asia Cup has been played in the T20 format since 2012 ater having begin in the ODI format.
In the last edition of the Women’s Asia Cup in 2018, India were shocked by Bangladesh in a last-ball thrilling final at Kuala Lumpur and finished as runners-up.
India will start their Asia Cup campaign on Oct.1, against Sri Lanka. They will next play Malaysia (Oct.3) and UAE (Oct.4) on back-to-back days. India will then take on Pakistan on Oct.7 before facing hosts Bangladesh on Oct.8. India will play their last round-robin game against Thailand on Oct.10.