New Delhi, July 28 (IANS) Pakistan captain Fatima Sana has called on her team to maintain their winning momentum as they prepare for a tour of Ireland next month, building up to the ICC Women’s ODI World Cup.
The tour will see Pakistan play a three-match T20I series in Dublin starting August 6. The series offers valuable game time ahead of the 50-over World Cup, set to be jointly hosted by India and Sri Lanka from early October.
Pakistan will head into the Ireland series with confidence, having enjoyed an unbeaten run so far in 2025. That streak includes a dominant performance at the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier earlier this year, where they won all five matches on home soil. Among those victories was a convincing 38-run win over Ireland.
Sana was instrumental in that campaign, finishing with 12 wickets, and will once again be key to Pakistan’s hopes of keeping their momentum intact as they fine-tune preparations for the global event.
The conditions in Dublin are expected to differ from those in Lahore, but Sana has urged her team to approach the matches against Ireland with the same intensity and determination to keep their winning streak alive.
“Despite the difference in conditions, batters are confident and since our qualifiers went well, we are going into the series with confidence,” ICC quoted Sana as saying. “We are looking to continue that momentum and looking forward to do well along with developing the T20I side as well.”
Opener Muneeba Ali was among Pakistan’s standout performers at the Qualifier event in April, scoring two half-centuries and accumulating 223 runs at an impressive average of 44.60.
Her strong showing with the bat propelled her to a career-best position in the ICC Women’s ODI Batter Rankings. Now, the 27-year-old is eager to carry that momentum into the Ireland series and continue her fine form at the World Cup later this year.
“Despite the difference in formats between the Irish tour and the World Cup, we are looking to focus on T20Is and work on 50-over format game alongside as well. We have identified where we were lacking in the Qualifiers tournament and have tried to overcome that (during the training camp) and build upon the positives from that tournament,” Muneedba said.
Pakistan squad to face Ireland: Fatima Sana (c), Aliya Riaz, Diana Baig, Eyman Fatima, Gull Feroza, Muneeba Ali, Najiha Alvi, Nashra Sundhu, Natalia Parvaiz, Rameen Shamim, Sadaf Shamas, Sadia Iqbal, Sidra Amin, Tuba Hassan and Waheeda Akhtar.
–IANS
ab/bc