Fatima Sana is an all-rounder. The rare kind at that, that is, a fast-bowling all-rounder. This means she has to bat and put in extra effort to bowl. And she is a captain too, so add those responsibilities to her column as well. The funny thing about this is that she can not afford to be present in these roles half-heartedly. When she bats, she has to whack it around and make sure she plays as impactful an innings as is possible for a batter coming as late as she does.
When she bowls, she ought to take the new ball and impose the damage to its maximum, though lately she’s put less of her energy into that. As a captain, however, her job gets pretty complex. She has a team like Pakistan to lead, which, by convention, means she will, more often than not, find herself in situations that force her to push her limits in all three departments.
And on top of all these, she is just 24. A 24-year-old fast-bowling all-rounder who is also the captain of a side which is drawn in the same group for the T20 World Cup as Australia, South Africa, and India. That sounds too much, and for Pakistan’s survival, Fatima must do too much.
Pakistan’s build-up to the World Cup
Pakistan enter the T20 World Cup after losing both their warm-up games and winning nothing during the Ireland tri-series prior to that. They did rewrite the record books during the three-match T20I series against Zimbabwe at home, but that does not mean much when they come up against teams that are yearning to devour them at the slightest display of weakness. This makes up for a shoddy build-up for a side gearing up to face India in their opening game.
Fatima is banking on the fickle nature of the T20 format and her team’s busy lead-up to do well in the tournament. But regardless of whether Pakistan sway from their usual form in multi-nation tournaments, where they have won only one game in the last three World Cups, regardless of whether her side honours the preparation they have for the competition, how Fatima turns up will be isolated from all that.
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Pakistan captain Fatima Sana
Pakistan only won one game in the previous edition of the T20 World Cup. A grief-stricken Fatima Sana, who had to make a quick trip back home for her father’s death, was the sixth most impactful player in the entire competition and eleventh among batters.
Since the previous World Cup, among batters with at least 300 runs in T20Is, Fatima has the best strike rate. No other batter has paired this strike rate, or even a 150+ strike rate, with a 55-plus average. Pakistan, meanwhile, have been paltry in their wins during the same period. They have won five out of 13 matches since the World Cup, including the three at home against Zimbabwe.
When put together with the Pakistan side, Fatima can quite easily be confused as the odd one. Her numbers suggest she can’t possibly be a match for a struggling side that she captains. But Fatima is the perfect antidote for what Pakistan suffer from, and in that lies the reason why the side can’t stop looking towards her in every messy situation they get.
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