THE 2023 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup is just around the corner, and will see 10 teams from across the world battle it out in South Africa to be crowned World Champions for another three years.

In the lead up to the tournament, we here at Rookie Me Central will be previewing the teams one by one, and taking a deep dive into their chances at the upcoming tournament.

Next up in this series is Pakistan.

Pakistan is one of the middle of the road countries in the pecking order of international women’s cricket.

The Pakistanis do not seem to be able to match it with the top countries in the T20 format, but are a better side than some of the lower ranked nations.

This was evident in their most recent series against Australia, which wrapped up last week.

Although they only got to play two of the three scheduled T20 matches, (with the third abandoned due to rain) Pakistan was no match for the Australians.

Australia are a level above any teams the Pakistanis will face at least initially in the World Cup, but if Pakistan want to be competitive and match it with the top it has to do better than what it did against the Australians.

Unfortunately for the Pakistanis, their path through this World Cup is not a straightforward one.

Although they should realistically not finish last in their group, finishing in one of those coveted top two spots in the group may be a step a little bit too big.

The Pakistan squad for this tournament has a mixture of youth and experience, but is still full of plenty of talented.

Led by the very experienced Bismah Maroof, the side has the likes of Nida Dar and Omaima Sohail, who both performed well against Australia so will be looking to repeat that at the World Cup.

Fatima Sana is another key bowler for the Pakistanis that will be an asset during the tournament.

However the Pakistanis were delt a blow in the bowling department on the eve of the tournament, with Diana Baig injuring her finger in the Australia series and as such will miss the tournament.  

Pakistan Squad

Bismah Maroof (c), Aimen Anwar, Aliya Riaz, Ayesha Naseem, Sadaf Shamas, Fatima Sana, Javeria Khan, Muneeba Ali, Nashra Sandhu, Nida Dar, Omaima Sohail, Sadia Iqbal, Sidra Amin, Sidra Nawaz, Tuba Hassan

Pakistan Fixture (all dates local)

February 12 – India
February 15 – Ireland
February 19 – West Indies
February 21 – England