World T20: ‘Looking to take a fearless approach and see where it takes us’

We are aiming to bring a different and more fearless approach to the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in 2024.

In the past, we’ve often struggled in the powerplay - with early wickets falling, middle-order collapses and a slow pace of runs leading to low totals. We've also found it difficult to chase targets above 120.

We now understand how crucial it is to have positive intent, especially in the powerplay, to set the tone and post competitive scores. If we look at the top teams, they all make the most of the first six overs, which helps them score big and chase high totals.

Recently, we've started playing with more attacking intent, and some young players have shown exciting potential. The game has evolved a lot since I made my debut in 2019. Scores are much higher now, batters play with more freedom, and as a team, we’re adapting to stay competitive.

This year, Gull Feroza has been in good form, with some strong innings in the Asia Cup. Muneeba Ali, at the top of the order, also performed well in the recent series against South Africa. Both are in good form and bring valuable experience.

We’ve encouraged them to aim for a strike-rate of over 100, a key metric that helps us post higher totals and compete with the best. In the middle order, we have experienced players like Nida Dar, Sidra Amin, and Aliya Riaz. I too, have been working hard to bring positive energy to the team through my batting.

When it comes to bowling, Sadia Iqbal has been phenomenal in the last year. She's currently ranked #3 in the ICC T20 rankings, and Nashra Sandhu is also in the top 10. Nida Dar is the leading wicket-taker in T20s, and we have two talented leg spinners, Syeda Arooba Shah, who captained Pakistan U19 at the T20 World Cup, and Tuba Hassan, who has been a key player since her debut. Both of them bring a lot of energy in the field, and our strong spin department will be crucial in the Dubai conditions.

In the fast-bowling department, Diana Baig’s experience will be a great asset. I’ll do my best, as always, to contribute with both bat and ball, and we also have Tasmia Rubab, a left-arm seamer, which gives us good variety.

This exciting mix of youth and experience has me really looking forward to seeing how it all comes together for Pakistan.

Before our series against South Africa, we had a good fitness camp, and our performances in that series gave us a lot of positives and confidence to take into the World Cup. We put up our highest-ever T20I total of 181 in the second match, which showed that our new approach is starting to pay off.

While we were disappointed with our Asia Cup loss to Sri Lanka, we are motivated to put that right when we face them in the first group game of the World Cup.

Pakistan has won just one match at each of the last six T20 World Cups. This time, we aim to win as many as possible and see where that takes us. We know we have a tough group, including reigning champions Australia, but we've beaten teams like India and New Zealand recently, and playing against top sides boosts our confidence.

Playing top teams requires giving your absolute best, and doing so brings out the best in you. We know we'll have strong support from back home during this World Cup. We had great crowds and public interest during the South Africa series in Multan, and we know the nation is behind us.

We’re looking forward to a great T20 World Cup, insha'Allah.

(Courtesy: International Cricket Council)