Bismah Maroof (born 18 July 1991) is a Pakistani

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

er who plays as an

all-rounder An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a handful of batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are consi ...

batting Batting may refer to: * Batting (baseball), the act of attempting to hit a ball thrown by the pitcher with a baseball bat, in order to score runs * Batting (cricket), the act of defending one's wicket with the cricket bat while attempting to score ...

left-handed and

bowling Bowling is a target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a ball toward pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). The term ''bowling'' usually refers to pin bowling (most commonly ten-pin bowling), thou ...

right-arm leg break. In June 2022, she became the most runs scorer for Pakistani women's cricket team in both ODI and T20I formats (more than 2000 runs in each). She has appeared for

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

in over 200 matches, captained the side between 2013 and 2020, and was the first woman to score 1,000 runs in ODIs for Pakistan. In April 2021, Maroof took a break from cricket to give birth, before confirming her return to availability in December 2021 ahead of the

2022 World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022; it is the first ...

. She has played domestic cricket for

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city ...

Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited The Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) ( ur, ), formerly known as Agricultural Development Bank of Pakistan, is Pakistani government-owned agricultural development bank which is based in Islamabad, Pakistan. Founded in 1961 as the agricultura ...

and Pakistan Universities. As of 2022, she currently holds the world record for having scored the most number of runs in the history of Women's ODIs without a single career century with 3,017 runs.

Early life

Bismah was born into a

Kashmiri Kashmiri may refer to: * People or things related to the Kashmir Valley or the broader region of Kashmir * Kashmiris, an ethnic group native to the Kashmir Valley * Kashmiri language, their language People with the name * Kashmiri Saikia Baruah ...

family. Her parents being well-educated, were in favour of her pursuing an academic career and establishing herself in the world of

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. As she grew into her late teens, her interest for cricket developed, and that too to such an extent, that while at

Lahore College for Women University The Lahore College for Women University (LCWU) ( ur, ) Is a public university in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. Founded in 1922 with a capacity of 60 students, it now has a full-time enrollment of about 15,000 students and admits students at Intermed ...

, her passion peaked and so she decided to step out of academics, after completion of

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

, into the cricketing sphere, leaving behind the ambitions of becoming a doctor. She broke into the Pakistan national set-up at the age of 15.

International career

She made her ODI debut on 13 December 2006 at the age of 15 against India during the

2006 Women's Asia Cup The 2006 Women's Asia Cup was the third Asian Cricket Council Women's Asia Cup. The three teams which took part in the women's One Day International tournament were India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. It was held between 13 and 21 December 2006 in I ...

and she made an impressive start to her ODI career scoring 43 runs off 76 balls while opening the batting. She made her WT20I debut on 29 May 2009 against the Ireland during the

2009 RSA T20 Cup The 2009 RSA T20 Cup was a Women's Twenty20 (T20) cricket tournament that was held in Ireland in May 2009. The tournament was originally planned as a tri-nation series between Ireland women's cricket team, Ireland, Pakistan women's national cricke ...

. She was part of the Pakistan squad at the

2009 Women's Cricket World Cup The 2009 Women's Cricket World Cup was the ninth edition of the Women's Cricket World Cup, held in Australia from 7 to 22 March 2009. England won the tournament, beating New Zealand in the final to claim their third World Cup title. England batte ...

in Australia. She was part of the team that won a gold medal against

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

at the 2010 Asian Games in China. She was named

vice-captain Vice-captain, alternate captain (ice hockey) or vice-skip (curling) may refer to a role in a number of sports immediately below the role of captain. The vice-captain may have a number of different roles, including substituting as captain when the r ...

of the Pakistan squad that won a second successive gold medal against Bangladesh at the 2014 Asian Games in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

. In 2016, she was named as the captain of the Pakistan women T20I side. She was ruled out of the

2017 Women's Cricket World Cup The 2017 Women's Cricket World Cup was an international women's cricket tournament that took place in England from 24 June to 23 July 2017. It was the eleventh edition of the Women's Cricket World Cup, and the third to be held in England (after ...

due to a hand injury and was replaced in the squad by Iram Javed. She later replaced Sana Mir as the captain of the Pakistan team with the latter being sacked after a disastrous 2017 Women's Cricket World Cup tournament where Pakistan lost all their matches. On 11 October 2017, Bismah was selected as captain of the Pakistan women's cricket team ahead of the New Zealand series in the UAE. In the series, Pakistan won their first ever ODI against the

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

in the third match. In March 2018, under her captaincy Pakistan clean swept Sri Lanka 3-0 in the ODI series on the Sri Lanka tour. This was only the second time that Pakistan team won an ODI series 3-0. In the T20 series, Pakistan defeated Sri Lanka 2-1. She was the leading run-scorer for Pakistan in the

2018 Women's Twenty20 Asia Cup The 2018 Women's Twenty20 Asia Cup was the seventh edition of the ACC Women's Asia Cup, organized by the Asian Cricket Council (ACC). It took place between 3 and 10 June 2018 in Malaysia, and was the third edition played as a 20-over tournamen ...

, with 143 runs in five matches. In October 2018, she was named in Pakistan's squad for the

2018 ICC Women's World Twenty20 The 2018 ICC Women's World Twenty20 was the sixth edition of the ICC Women's World Twenty20, hosted in the West Indies from 9 to 24 November 2018. It the second World Twenty20 hosted by the West Indies (after the 2010 edition), and the West In ...

tournament in the West Indies but opted to stay aside from captaincy which made room for Javeria Khan to lead the side. Prior to the 2018 ICC WT20 campaign, she underwent an eye surgery for a sinus problem and it raised doubts over her cricketing future. In January 2019, she returned as skipper of the side for the home WODI and WT20I series against the West Indies. In October 2019, she was named as the captain of the Women's Global Development Squad, ahead of a five-match series in Australia. In January 2020, she was named as the captain of Pakistan's squad for the

2020 ICC Women's T20 World Cup The 2020 ICC Women's T20 World Cup was the seventh ICC Women's T20 World Cup tournament. It was held in Australia between 21 February and 8 March 2020. The final took place at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on International Women's Day. Hosts ...

in Australia. However, on 28 February 2020, in the match against

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, she broke her right thumb. She was ruled out of the rest of the tournament, with Nahida Khan named as her replacement and

Javeria Khan Javeria Khan Wadood ( ur, جویریہ خان) (born 14 May 1988) is a Pakistani cricketer who plays as an all-rounder, batting right-handed and bowling right-arm off break. She has played international cricket for Pakistan since 2008. She has ...

captaining the side in her absence. In December 2020, she was shortlisted as one of the Women's Cricketer of the Year for the 2020 PCB Awards. In April 2021, Maroof announced that she was taking an indefinite break from cricket "as motherhood beckons". She became the first Pakistani cricketer to be a beneficiary of the Pakistan Cricket Board's maternity policy for the players which allows benefits for expecting mothers and fathers. After giving birth to a baby girl in August 2021, in December Maroof announced that she was returning to availability for Pakistan ahead of the

. In January 2022, she was named as the captain of Pakistan's team for the

2022 Women's Cricket World Cup The 2022 ICC Women's Cricket World Cup was the twelfth edition of the Women's Cricket World Cup, which was held in New Zealand in March and April 2022. It was originally scheduled for 6 February to 7 March 2021 but was postponed by one year due ...

in New Zealand. In May 2022, she was named as the captain of Pakistan's team for the cricket tournament at the

2022 Commonwealth Games The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England bet ...

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, England.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Maroof, Bismah 1991 births Living people Cricketers from Lahore Pakistani women cricketers Pakistan women One Day International cricketers Pakistan women Twenty20 International cricketers Pakistani women cricket captains Lahore women cricketers Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited women cricketers Pakistan Universities women cricketers Asian Games gold medalists for Pakistan Asian Games medalists in cricket Cricketers at the 2010 Asian Games Cricketers at the 2014 Asian Games Medalists at the 2010 Asian Games Medalists at the 2014 Asian Games Cricketers at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games competitors for Pakistan People from Lahore