Pakistan’s ICC Women’s T20 World Cup campaign has been dogged by tension within the team, with media reports suggesting a rift between the players and the team management.According to Pakistani media reports and discussions on social media, tensions have broken out within the camp following a series of negative results. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has neither confirmed nor denied the reports.Pakistan slumped to a fourth straight defeat in the tournament after a massive 113-run defeat by Australia at Headingley in Leeds on Tuesday. The team is yet to record a win since arriving in Ireland prior to the World Cup and is winless in the three matches involving Ireland and the West Indies prior to the tournament.According to news agency PTI, there are reports that there is a big rift between the team’s coach and the head coach. Wahab Riaz and captain Fatima Sana on selected issues. A report said that before the Bangladesh match, Sana refused to let the husband of senior player Aaliya Riaz stay in her hotel room, which led to her being asked to leave.“It was because of Sana’s insistence that Ali Younis was asked to leave the room. Then, the day after the match against Bangladesh, Aaliya and her husband went to see the place where there was a plan to prepare the team,” another report said.The same reports said that Sana wanted Aaliya out of the Bangladesh match, but Wahab insisted on his choice. Following the defeat, Sana reportedly criticized Wahab for failing to follow the rules.
Fatima Sana admits Pakistan played ‘very bad cricket’
Amidst foreign opinion, captain Fatima Sana candidly admitted that her team struggled for a big win in Australia.“I think we just played our worst cricket of the game, and as a team we have to accept that. We have to go back, think, and fix ourselves,” said Sana after the match.Despite the disappointing campaign, Sana felt that Pakistan’s preparations ahead of the tournament were encouraging.“Personally, I think we had a lot of good practices before we came here, but we still need a response from the team. This is what we need right now. Otherwise, we had very good preparation and preparation sessions,” he said.The captain also praised the bowling team, especially the spinners Nashra Sandhu and Sadia Iqbal.“I think our bowling was very good, especially the way we started. Nashra and Sadia bowled very well, which was amazing. We just need more players to help them because we struggled in some areas. We have good players and they can do it, but we need more contributions from everyone,” he said.Pakistan, who also finished bottom of the 50-over World Cup last year, will be looking to salvage some pride when they take on the Netherlands in their Group A final.