Pakistan's captain Fatima Sana has vowed to play an attacking brand of cricket ahead of the high-voltage clash against arch-rivals India in the ongoing ICC Women's T20 World Cup.
Sana is leading her team from the front and is walking the talk. The young captain scored a quickfire 30 off just 20 balls at a strike rate of 150.00 before taking responsibility with the ball and claiming figures of 2/10. Sana led the team to a 31-run win and was adjudged the Player of the Match (POTM).
"I have been watching that whichever team we played against - played attacking cricket," Sana said while addressing the press ahead of the mother of all clashes.
"As a bowler, I used to feel that whoever used to bowl against us, used to make to hit us from the first ball. I wanted our team to have batters who can punish the bowler from the first ball. We have worked a lot on this and you will see the result soon hopefully."
Sana burst onto the scene as a pacer who wanted to knock the living daylights out of batters but now wants to expand her game and hopefully become the "number one allrounder" going forward.
"I always wanted to be the number one all-rounder, because obviously bowling is a team sport but the team wins when you are good at it all, even when you are good in fielding," Sana said.
"So that's why I was trying to prove myself always in helping the team win. So, I think that was the only challenge for me. That I should take my batting along. Our power-hitting coach has helped a lot of girls. I think all the credit goes to him because he has given us the belief that you can become an all-rounder."
Pakistan hit a total of nine sixes during their recent three-match T20I series and were at their most attacking self in recent years. Sana believes that her teammates are adapting to the changing landscape of the format and are bound to succeed.
"If you look at the last series of South Africa, a lot of our girls have improved in power-hitting.
"I think the girls believe that even if the fielders are standing behind, if they hit, they can go for six. It's a good thing that all the girls are confident in this. Personally, I used to bat a lot before, but I didn't know if I could hit or not. But with that belief now it's become a lot easier."
