Pakistan have finally agreed on who will replace pacer Diana Baig in the squad for the ongoing ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in UAE.
Baig, in fact got injured in the first over of the chase itself when she pulled up a muscle in her run up before bowling the second ball. She was assisted to the dressing room by the physio after that and did not feature in the remaining overs of that match or the two matches played by Pakistan after that.
Skipper Fatima Sana was the lone pacer of the side in the game against India. When she was not available for the Australia game because of her father’s death, Pakistan did not have any specialist pacer.
So, for the last game for the side of them in the tournament, they have changed and included a 21 years old wicketkeeper batter from Karachi named Najiha Alvi.
A middle-order bats woman, she has scored 109 runs for Pakistan in the shortest format of the game so far, that brings her total to eight T20Is, having made her debut for the team in 2023 in Chattogram against Bangladesh. The last she represented Pakistan in T20I was during the five-match T20I series against West Indies in Karachi. However, she didn’t get a proper exposure in that series and could mustered only 14 runs in four innings.
The Event Technical Committee of the Women’s T20 World Cup has given an approval to include Najiha in the Pakistan through the replacement of Diana forming the Pakistan squad along with Wasim Khan the ICC General Manager, Snehal Pradhan who acts as the ICC Manager – Women’s Cricket, Salman Hanif the Emirates Cricket Board Tournament Director and Katey Martin the independent representative.
Replacing a player also falls under the Event Technical Committee before the new player can be allowed to join the team.
Pakistan take on New Zealand in their final group match on Monday October 14.
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