Pakistan women's national cricket team

The Pakistan women's national cricket team, also known as Green Shirts or Women in Green, represents Pakistan in international women's cricket. One of eight teams competing in the ICC Women's Championship (the highest level of international women's cricket), the team is organised by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), a Full Member of the International Cricket Council (ICC).

Pakistan made its One Day International (ODI) debut in early 1997, against New Zealand, and later in the year played in the 1997 World Cup in India. The team's inaugural Test match came against Sri Lanka in April 1998. In its early years, Pakistan was one of the least competitive of the top-level women's teams, and after its inaugural appearance in 1997, did not qualify for another World Cup until the 2009 event in Australia. However, the team has played in all four editions of the Women's World Twenty20 to date, and also participated in the Women's Asia Cup and the Asian Games cricket tournament.

The increase in terrorism as a result of the war on terror led to a stagnation of foreign teams touring Pakistan. However, due to a decrease in terrorism in Pakistan over the past few years, as well as an increase in security, West Indies women's cricket team and Bangladesh women's national cricket team have toured Pakistan multiple times since 2015.

Support staff

* Head Coach: David Hemp
* Bowling Coach: Arshad Khan
* Assistant Coach: Kamran Hussain

History

1990s

The concept of Women's cricket was first introduced in Pakistan by two sisters Shaiza and Sharmeen Khan in 1996. In conservative Pakistan the creation of a Pakistan women`s cricket team was even considered illegal and was met with court cases and even death threats. The government refused them permission to play India in 1997 and ruled that women were forbidden from playing sports in public due to the religious issues.

However, the team did manage to overcome these objections and represented Pakistan in 1997, playing against New Zealand and Australia. They lost all three One Day International matches on that tour, but they were still invited to take part in the Women's Cricket World Cup later that year in India. They lost all five matches in the tournament and finished last, out of the eleven teams in the competition. The following year, Pakistan toured Sri Lanka and played three One Day International matches, losing all of their matches and played in their first Test match, which they also lost.

2000s

In 2000, Pakistan toured Ireland for a five match One Day International series against Ireland. They lost the Test match by an innings inside two days and the One Day International series 4–0, with one match interrupted by rain. Their first international win, in their 19th match, came against the Netherlands in a seven match One Day International series at their home ground in 2001, a series which they won 4–3. This form did not continue into their six One Day International tour of Sri Lanka in January 2002 though and they again lost all six matches.

In 2003, Pakistan travelled to the Netherlands to take part in the 2003 IWCC Trophy, the inaugural edition of what is now called simply the World Cup Qualifier. They finished fourth in the tournament, their victories were against Japan and Scotland, however they were missing out on qualification for the 2005 World Cup. This tournament was marred by a schism between the Pakistan Women's Cricket Control Association and the Pakistan Cricket Board. The IWCC did not recognise the Pakistan Cricket Board as the governing body of women's cricket in Pakistan and court cases were brought in Pakistan. The Pakistan Cricket Board announced that they would not be sending a team to the tournament and that no other team should be allowed to represent the country in the competition. This problem has since been overcome with the International Cricket Council requirement that women's associations and men's associations are unified under one single governing body.

2004 saw the West Indies tour Pakistan, playing seven One Day International matches and a Test match. The Test match was drawn and West Indies won the One Day International series 5–2, but those two victories for Pakistan were their first against a Test playing nation.

In 2005, Pakistan Cricket Board established a Women's Wing to oversee all Cricket Affairs under the Pakistan Cricket Board's control and to unite all the conflicts between various associations. The first international event was when Indian Under 21 team toured Pakistan, becoming the first Indian women's side to tour the country. This paved the way for Pakistan to host the second Women's Asia Cup in December 2005/January 2006. They lost all their games however, finishing last in the three team tournament. The tournament featured the first match between the Indian and Pakistani women's cricket teams.

Early in 2007, the Pakistan squad toured South Africa and played in a five match, One Day International series. During that year, Pakistan was awarded to Host the ICC Women's World Cup Qualifiers in which eight teams were scheduled to participate. All of the arrangements were almost completed when unfortunately the event was postponed due to political instability and was moved to South Africa. The Pakistan Women Team qualified for the ICC Women World Cup by defeating Ireland, Zimbabwe, Scotland and Netherlands. They qualified for this tournament after defeating Hong Kong in a three match series in Pakistan in September 2006.

In Pakistan, views towards Women' cricket have softened considerably since its introduction. Cricket is currently seen as an improvement for women's rights.

In June 2019, the PCB reduced the number of contracted players from 17 to 10, but increased remuneration for the retained players.

World Cup records

Women's ODI World Cup

Pakistan have participated in four editions of the Women's Cricket World Cup: 1997 Women's Cricket World Cup, 2009 Women's Cricket World Cup, 2013 Women's Cricket World Cup and 2017 Women's Cricket World Cup. The team did not win any of their matches during the 1997 Cricket World Cup and finished at eleventh place. Pakistan saw their first win in the 2009 World Cup; they advanced to the Super Six round defeating Sri Lanka in group stage match by 57 runs with Nain Abidi scoring 26 runs, and the player of the match Qanita Jalil taking 3 wickets for 33. They qualified for the 5th place playoff match defeating West Indies in the Super Sixes by 4 wickets, but finished at 6th place losing to the same team by 3 wickets. They were winless in both the 2013 World Cup and the 2017 World Cup.

Women's T20I World Cup

Pakistan have participated in all the editions of the ICC Women's World Twenty20. They lost all of their games in 2009 ICC Women's World Twenty20 and 2010 ICC Women's World Twenty20. In the 2012 edition, they registered their solitary win over India. Pakistan defeated them by 1 run with Sana Mir scoring 26 runs and Nida Dar—who was awarded player of the match—taking 3 wickets for 12 runs. Pakistan finished with 7th place playoff in the 2014 ICC Women's World Twenty20; they defeated Sri Lanka by 14 runs in the playoffs. Bismah Maroof scored 62 runs not out and Sania Khan took 3 wickets for 24 runs. Maroof was awarded woman of the match.

Asia Cup

The Pakistan women's cricket team did not participate in the inaugural edition of the women's Asia cup in 2004–05, Sri Lanka and India played a five-match series in Sri Lanka. Pakistan hosted the second edition of the Asia Cup in 2005–06, but they did not win a single game of the tournament. India won the final by 97 runs, against Sri Lanka, played at the National Stadium, Karachi. In the third edition of the women's Asia Cup, once again Pakistan failed to see a victory, and this was the third consecutive occasion that India and Sri Lanka were playing in the final. In the 2008 edition of the Women's Asia Cup, Pakistan registered their only victory against the Bangladeshi women's cricket team who were participating for the first time in Asia Cup.

The 2012 edition was a Twenty20 version of the game that took place in Guangzhou, China from 24 to 31 October 2012. Pakistan reached into the final of the tournament, and lost to India by 18 runs. Bismah Maroof was awarded woman of the tournament for her all-round performance.

Asian Games

Asian Games 2010

The Pakistan national women's cricket team won a gold medal in the inaugural women's cricket tournament in the 2010 Asian Games that took place in Guangzhou, China. In the final match at the 2010 Asian Games, Pakistan defeated Bangladesh women cricket team by 10 wickets. Bangladeshi women made 92 runs for 9 wickets with their captain Salma Khatun scoring 24; Nida Dar took 3 wickets giving away 16 runs in 4 overs. Pakistan women achieved the target of 93 runs in 15.4 overs without losing wickets: Dar scored 51 from 43 balls and Javeria Khan scored 39 runs from 51 balls, both remained not out. Asif Ali Zardari, the then-president of Pakistan

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