Pakistan’s 20-year-old pacer Fatima Sana has been awarded the International Cricket Council (ICC) Emerging Women’s Cricketer of the Year award for 2021.
Sana made her debut in 2019 and had only two ODIs to her credit until the start of last year.
This is the first time that the ICC accolade has been won by a Pakistani woman cricketer, making it a huge accomplishment for the young star and a proud moment for Pakistan. She has been further nominated for the ICC Women’s ODI Cricket of the year award as well as is the second woman from the country after former captain Sana Mir to make it to ICC ODI cricket team of the year.
Her figures for the year 2021, consist of 24 wickets at an average of 23.95 and 165 runs at 16.50 in 16 international matches. She also scored 132 runs at an average of 14.66.The 20-years old surprised everyone with her performance last year. Sana not only displayed some extraordinary performances with the ball but also contributed with the bat in the 16 appearances (ODIs-13, T20Is-3) although she only played 6 matches in prior year. Recording her best ODI spell of 5/39 that came in July against West Indies, she took 20 wickets in the format making it to the top of the ODI wicket tally equalling it with the Windies bowler Anisa Mohammed. Adding four more from the T20Is to her total tally for the year, she ended with 24 international wickets at an average of 23.95 along with contributing 165 runs at 16.50 as a lower-order batter. 18 of her impressive 24 wickets for the year came in the 11 matches she played against West Indies both as a visitor as well as the host.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) in a statement praised the 20-year-old Pakistani cricketer and said that she “Impressed one and all with her all-round efforts in 2021”. Furthermore the statement read, “In fact, 18 of her 24 wickets in the year came in the 11 matches she played against the West Indies. Sana showed a lot of heart against the attacking West Indies batters and succeeded in keeping them at bay,”
The cricket’s governing body praised Sana for showing “tremendous maturity throughout the year,” and termed her “one of the few bright spots for Pakistan”
Adding on, ICC said, “Pakistan had already lost the series going into this ODI but this win served as a great confidence-booster for the team and the young Sana as well. With the bat, Sana added vital runs in the slog overs. As a bowler, she claimed the big wickets of Deandra Dottin and Britney Cooper with the new ball and then came back at the death to clean up the tail, thus registering bowling figures of 5/39,”
This achievement has been praised by the The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) as it congratulated the young cricket star Fatima Sana on winning the award, saying: “We are proud of you Fatima!”
Chairman Pakistan Cricket Board Ramiz Raja also tweeted, “And another great story today Fatima Sana has won the ICC Women’s emerging cricketer of the year award. Plans are afoot for Women’s T20 league in Pakistan In sha Allah”.
Cricket broadcaster and journalist Zainab Abbas posted this message on her official Twitter handle, “A star in the making with her all-round abilities, super proud of Fatima Sana!”.
Ramsha Saghir is a Clinical Psychologist by profession. She is an Intersectional Feminist and writes on gender equality, societal issues and mental health.
