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October 14, 2024
Muneeba Ali avoids eye contact when she hears Fatima Sana’s name. Struggling to hold back tears, she manages to express her thoughts about her brave captain and close friend, who is currently on a flight back to Karachi.
On Thursday, the Pakistan women’s team learned of the heartbreaking tragedy affecting their young captain, Sana. At just 22, she has flown home to be with her grieving mother after the sudden loss of her father, along with her older brother who lives in Dubai. Despite the difficult circumstances, Sana’s final message to her teammates was clear: they must stay strong and continue to pursue Pakistan’s World Cup dreams in her absence.
“We were all there with her till she left for the airport, and honestly it was grim. We all stand with her and her family in this time of grief,” says Muneeba as her eyes well up. “But, credit to her the way she’s handling it. She got the news just this morning, and she’s shown immense strength and fortitude.
“Before leaving, she told us that if we do well and win against Australia then she will definitely return for the New Zealand game. For such a young girl to say something so mature, and show so much courage, it’s exemplary.”
Just moments earlier, Muneeba Ali faced the media for her first match as the full-time captain during the ongoing T20 World Cup in the UAE. Her remarkable composure during such challenging times explains why she was chosen for this leadership role.
Muneeba, who plays as Pakistan’s wicketkeeper and opener, has come a long way since her early days when she felt intimidated by her teammates. In 2018, she traveled to Kuala Lumpur for a three-match series against Australia, carrying her autograph book in hopes of meeting her idols. However, she struggled to find the courage to approach them until assistant coach Andy Richards encouraged her to speak to Ellyse Perry.
Cricket was the only sport that Muneeba, the youngest of four siblings, wanted to play in the narrow streets of Karachi, usually during the late afternoon until the sunset prayer. However, she never considered playing it professionally until she saw Pakistan win a gold medal at the 2010 Asian Games.
A fan of Kumar Sangakkara, Muneeba naturally batted right-handed but switched to left-handed batting, which became her style. She added wicketkeeping gloves to her gear later on, and this skill ultimately opened the door to her professional cricket career. At just 18, she made her debut in the 2016 T20 World Cup in India under the captaincy of Sana Mir, with her favorite memory being the victory over India in Delhi.
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Despite this, Muneeba struggled initially, scoring single digits in eight of her first twelve T20I innings over 30 months, which made her fight for a place in the team until the 2020 World Cup. Andy Richards, the batting coach for the Pakistan team during the 2018-19 season, remembers how Muneeba’s raw talent and T20-style approach to batting encouraged him and the team management to keep faith in her, even during her early struggles and uncertainty about her role in the team.
“She was just a shy girl, like all people are in that environment for the first time, trying to find her way where she belonged and where she fitted,” Richards tells Cricbuzz. “She had to deal with jumping up and down the batting order at that time a fair bit. It wasn’t terribly easy for her, but she just had this continual smile on her face the whole time.
“I’m sure there were other thoughts going through behind the smile, but she had a freedom that not a lot of other Pakistani girls did in terms of her batting. I remember talking to Colesy [Mark Coles, the then head coach] at the time that I liked the way that she went about her batting. She was one of the few girls that actually did bat with freedom, which I have to say was a challenge for a lot of those girls in the squad at the time – getting them to not necessarily bat for themselves, but bat for their position in the side.”
“I kept making the point to the selectors and the coach that the freedom she bats with is the most important thing in T20 cricket. Even when she did get out [early], her strike rate was getting better and better all the time. And for me, that’s a really important part from a T20 batting perspective.”
“We struggled early on about where she actually belonged in that batting lineup, too. There were some older stalwarts in that lineup, and that probably prevented her from maybe establishing that a little bit further. I don’t mean this in a nasty way, but that sort of held up her progress a little bit, I think. They’ve also had a few changes in coaches over the years, and that doesn’t help in continuity for her.”
“But, as time went on, they realised the value of having Munni there. And, it was funny that her wicketkeeping was a bit of a hidden talent.”
Even when she wasn’t keeping wickets, Muneeba was one of the fittest and most agile fielders in the team. Her chance to shine came when Sidra Nawaz, the Pakistan keeper at the time, got injured, revealing Muneeba’s hidden talent—something that Andy Richards hadn’t noticed before. With guidance from the next coach, David Hemp, Muneeba honed her skills and established herself as a versatile player for the future.
Initially, Muneeba hesitated to take up wicketkeeping because, being one of the youngest players in the dressing room, she didn’t want to upset anyone. However, the team management aimed to strengthen the batting lineup with seven frontline options, which meant they needed a wicketkeeper in the top three. Muneeba had the potential, but this shift meant that Nawaz’s time in the team was coming to an end.
Ultimately, the team’s needs outweighed personal preferences, but Muneeba still felt the nerves that come with playing at the highest level.
Even when she wasn’t keeping wickets, Muneeba was one of the fittest and most agile fielders in the team. Her chance to shine came when Sidra Nawaz, the Pakistan keeper at the time, got injured, revealing Muneeba’s hidden talent—something that Andy Richards hadn’t noticed before. With guidance from the next coach, David Hemp, Muneeba honed her skills and established herself as a versatile player for the future.
Initially, Muneeba hesitated to take up wicketkeeping because, being one of the youngest players in the dressing room, she didn’t want to upset anyone. However, the team management aimed to strengthen the batting lineup with seven frontline options, which meant they needed a wicketkeeper in the top three. Muneeba had the potential, but this shift meant that Nawaz’s time in the team was coming to an end.
Ultimately, the team’s needs outweighed personal preferences, but Muneeba still felt the nerves that come with playing at the highest level.
“I know my keeping is still a work in progress, but the captain and the coaches have backed me thoroughly knowing that it wasn’t my primary skill. That encouragement and backing has helped me improve. But, trust me, I am under most pressure when Nida baaji [sister] is bowling. I have no idea why but whenever I drop a chance it’s always off her bowling. I can’t forget the time, especially when she was the captain – that’s the most under-pressure I’ve probably felt as a ‘keeper,” Muneeba says with a hearty laugh in hindsight.
Back in Karachi during the off-season, Muneeba dedicated more time to her wicketkeeping training, working closely with local coaches. For additional support and skill development, she turned to Sidra Nawaz and trained regularly with experienced senior men’s wicketkeeper-batsman Sarfraz Ahmed, as well as with Saim Ayub. who “owes a bat or two from childhood”.
When Muneeba struggled to score runs, she received invaluable advice from Beth Mooney during a rain-affected game in Canberra while on tour in Australia in early 2023. This guidance helped her make a turnaround in her performance.
“Beth said, ‘A lot of times, especially in approaching T20 cricket, we think we’ll fall behind very quickly, but that’s all pressure we create on ourselves in our mind. The game’s never slipping away, even if it may seem like it. If you just keep believing in yourself and play to your strengths, you’ll see that the game is always in your hands and you can finish it.'”
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Beth Mooney’s encouraging words just before the crucial World Cup in South Africa stayed with Muneeba. In only her second match of the tournament, she made history by becoming the first Pakistani woman to score a T20 World Cup century, hitting 102 runs off 68 balls against Ireland in Cape Town.
“Century, honestly, was never on my mind,” she recalls. “I was solely focused on putting up a par score of 160 or more. We’d just played against Ireland before the World Cup and they were posting scores of 160 comfortably, and even beat us in a game. So, I just wanted to post a challenging score for them in the World Cup.”
After starting steadily with a composed 40-ball half-century, Muneeba shifted into high gear, scoring the next 100 runs in just 25 balls. Her explosive performance ultimately led Pakistan to a match-winning total of 165 for 5.
“After I reached the 60s, for the next brief period, runs came at a quick pace, and probably for the first time I thought okay, maybe, century could be on the cards. But it was so unexpected even then that I didn’t even know how to celebrate. Nida baaji [sister] was with me at the other end and I think she celebrated it more than me. And then I felt compelled to celebrate, to raise the bat,” she laughs.
Since the 2023 World Cup, Muneeba has been Pakistan’s leading run-scorer, amassing 720 runs in 30 innings at a strike rate of nearly 112. However, she feels frustrated by her frequent dismissals in the 30s and 40s. To address this, she is focusing on improving her consistency without sacrificing her aggressive style of play. It has also been beneficial that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) hired a power-hitting coach in June, just before the Asia Cup.
“We had [Muhammad] Hanif sir join us since the West Indies series [at home, in April 2024], and he added a few power-hitting drills to our batters’ routines,” says Muneeba. “Since the time [Mohammad] Wasim sir has joined us, it’s gotten a lot easier for us to implement those in our game. He’s been backing us a lot. He shares the game plans with us, and guides us with respect to the areas each individual player can capitalise on and hence contribute more to the team.”
“We’ve started doing a lot of range-hitting in the nets, before and on match-days. Even in the off-season myself and Fatima worked with Hanif sir for a couple of weeks. We got to learn a lot. For example, how we used to approach some balls differently before, and what areas should we be targeting instead that suits our build, and our style.”
“It’s still a work in progress, but we try to implement that and lead by example – both me and Fatima – in order to build our team’s brand of cricket we want to play, and the batting approach or culture our new captain wants to set. We are trying to practically implement and show the benefits of that approach, so that the whole team can see and buy into the concept as a whole.”
With Bismah Maroof’s retirement just before the World Cup, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) appointed Nida Dar as captain, which appeared to be more of a temporary solution. Aliya Riaz was no longer in the running, and when the management chose to focus on the future, they handed leadership roles to Muneeba and Sana, both from Karachi.
Muneeba had little time to adjust to her new role as vice-captain. While Pakistan was already in a national camp preparing for a three-match T20I series against South Africa in Multan, she learned she would be supporting her friend Sana. Before she could fully absorb the news, Muneeba found herself stepping in for Sana during the second T20I against South Africa, where Pakistan secured a 13-run victory.
“It’s good in a way, in the sense that there wasn’t a lot of time to think and overthink things,” Muneeba reflects. “It’s all about reacting to situations then, you have no time for intrusive thoughts. As a vice-captain, and also a wicketkeeper, I’ve always tried to look after the field settings. Fatima is a new captain, she’s young as well, so I try my best to take care of these things so that her focus is on making the bowling plans with the bowler.”
Despite having just half an innings of captaincy experience at the highest level, Muneeba is determined to lead from the front for Sana and to boost Pakistan’s chances in the 2024 World Cup.
“Goals don’t really suit me, frankly, is what I’ve learnt from the past,” she cracks up. “Whenever I’ve indulged in goal-setting, I’ve invariably put myself under added pressure in the middle if it’s not going according to plans. So, I think, what works better for me is playing according to my instincts, assessing conditions on the given day and playing according to the demand of the situation so I can live up to the team’s expectations from me.”
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