Pakistan women’s all-rounder Syed Aroob Shah said on Tuesday that the team was looking to “perform better with the bat” ahead of the pivotal encounter with England in the ICC Women’s World Cup.
Last week‘s defeat against Australia left their knockout hopes hanging by a thread as Pakistan registered three losses on the trot.
A superb century from Beth Mooney dragged defending champions Australia back from the brink of disaster after being 76-7 before they completed a crushing 107-run win over the Green Shirts.
“We’re working hard in the nets, and our main focus is for our batters to fight as much as possible on the ground.
“It’s very important for us to post a big total — around 200+ — because that will increase our chances of winning. We’re working on this, and hopefully, in the next match, you’ll see us perform better,” the spin all-rounder said.
She was answering a question about Pakistan’s batting struggles amidst high-scoring encounters in the rest of the tournament.
The Green Shirts are yet to cross the 200-run mark after being bundled out for paltry scores in all three matches so far.
Speaking about the advantage of playing at the same venue for all the matches, Aroob said it was down to them playing good cricket to make use of the familiarity.
“Yes, we do have the advantage of playing at the same venue for all matches, but obviously, the other teams are also coming well-prepared. So, that point isn’t very valid anymore — that we’re getting an advantage,” the 21-year-old leggie said.
She added that when the side plays good cricket, only then will we get the benefit of the venue, adding, “We’re working on that and will try to play well in the next match.”
“Yes, the tournament is still open, and we have full hope. It happens that some teams lose their first few matches and then come back strongly,” Aroob added on an optimistic note.
“So, we believe we can do the same. We’ll take each match as it comes, play well, and try to win all four remaining games to stay in the tournament,” she said.
Fatima Sana’s charges endured a tough start to their campaign, slumping to heavy defeats against Bangladesh and India.
Their batting has wavered, although their bowling has been exceptional in short phases but has lacked the punch to finish innings well, and lapses in the field — a combination that has left them bottom of the eight-team table with little margin for error.
Pakistan need their batting to fire going into the England encounter if they are to avoid an early exit from the marquee event.
Opener Muneeba Ali is one of the batters who need to come good — having come into the tournament in decent nick but unable to provide the Green Shirts with good starts at the top of the order.
England go into the encounter with three wins in three matches — adding to the peril of the Green Shirts’ task.
Speaking ahead of the match, England’s Alice Capsey said that Pakistan had been involved in some “exciting games of cricket”.
“I think what we’ve seen by Pakistan so far is that they’ve been involved in some really exciting games of cricket, and they’ve had teams kind of on the back burner a little bit,” the 21-year-old batter said.
She added that England were making sure that they were really specific with what their plans were for each individual bowler — whether that be seam or spin.
