Pakistan are set to face arch-rivals India tomorrow in the ICC Women's T20 World Cup at the Dubai International Stadium and skipper Fatima Sana could not be any more prepared for the highly anticipated encounter.
Both teams have faced each other in 15 Women T20Is with the Blue Shirts losing only three. Their latest encounter was in the Women's Asia Cup earlier this year and India came out victorious by seven wickets in the game.
Sana, talking to ICC, said that she aims to continue the attacking brand of cricket her side has recently adapted against India.
"I have been watching that whichever team we played against - played attacking cricket," Sana said ahead of the big contest.
The newly-appointed skipper reiterated that she wanted batters same as the other sides who could “punish bowlers from the first ball”.
"As a bowler, I used to feel that whoever used to bowl against us, used 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,” she added.
Pakistan outclassed Sri Lanka in their first match on the opening day of the event and Sana walked in at No.7 against the Lankans.
She went on to give Pakistan vital 20 runs off 30 balls to push the side for a commendable total.
Sana led her side to win, becoming the second-youngest captain to win a Women's T20 World Cup match after Australia's Meg Lanning.
The skipper further admired the influence of Pakistan's power-hitting coach, saying that he has given the players the belief that “you can become an all-rounder”.
"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.
“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,” she said about the coach.
