Fatima Sana's Rise: A Promising Cricketer on the Ascend

Fatima Sana is a rising talent in the Pakistan cricketing ranks having made her debut for the national side in 2019. 

She’s played over fifty games across the two formats (ODI and T20I) and made her debut as captain of the national team in the recent ODI series against New Zealand when regular captain Nida Dar was ruled out with injury.

Fatima has been playing cricket at a domestic level since 2015 when she made her debut for Karachi. She started playing cricket in the streets of Pakistan having seen some girls playing with hardball bats and realised that there is a way to play professional cricket. 

Following this, her brother helped her get into an academy. Shehroz, an under-19 cricketer at the time, was asked by Fatima to say to his coaches “Where is the women’s academy in Pakistan.” Sadly, at that time there was no academy for girls, so Fatima went to a boy's sports academy. 

She is starting to become a bit of a global talent having played in the WCPL and recently made her debut for the Canterbury Magicians in the Dream 11 Super Smash in Aotearoa. Playing alongside players such as Frankie Mackay, Kate Anderson, and Sophie Molineux, she says that they are “very good”. Fatima then goes on to say it is “not only have these players assisted me there, a lot more girls like [Lea] Tahuhu and Nat [Cox]. I have learnt a lot from them as well”

In the ODI and T20I series against the White Ferns, Fatima ranged in the batting order from 5-7. However, has been presented with a golden opportunity in the Canterbury Magicians side having batted at number four twice and opened the innings in a rain-reduced game against the Central Hinds where she made 34*. 

Having taken 47 wickets in ODIs and 24 in T20Is along with 433 ODI runs, and 146 T20I runs, Fatima is starting to turn into an allrounder, something that she always wanted to do. “Alhamdulillah it was my dream to become an allrounder.” Having dominated the Pakistan tour to New Zealand with the bat, people are starting to see her more as an allrounder in the women’s game. “I am so happy that everyone now considers me an all-rounder.”

She also knows that being an allrounder is a position you need to have good skills for and is a role that is often crucial to a team’s success. “I just want to become a good allrounder who supports the team to win the matches” and is also an opportunity to “try to show some good skills!”

Fatima has captained the Pakistan women’s Emerging Team in the ACC Women’s Emerging Teams Asia Cup that was held in Hong Kong in June 2023. She has also led the PCB Blasters in the T20 Women’s Cricket Tournament. In December 2023, she made her debut as captain of the national side, something that she says is an “honour for me.” 

She also says how she was “a little nervous for the toss,” but did “enjoy my captaincy.” 

Fatima does hope that it “will give her an extra boost for the future.” It certainly did during the batting innings as she made the highest-ever score at number 6 in a women’s ODI with a score of 90* to take her side to a nearly defensible total of 220. The White Ferns won the match by one wicket. 

Crediting Allah for her knock, she says “who gave me extra confidence in that innings.” Having only ever passed 50 in an ODI innings once before where she made 69 against South Africa in September 2023. Fatima says “To be honest, I never thought I would make 100 or 50 at that time, I just wanted to stay on the wicket.” 

In that innings of 90* she saved the innings for her side having lost early wickets to be 35/4 after just twelve overs. She mentions “I will remember that inning because it was my first captaincy debut inning.” 

During the ODI series, Fatima also featured in the Super Over in the third ODI, after the scores were tied at 251 each. Opening the batting alongside Aliya Riaz, Fatima faced the final ball of the over and made two runs. She also took the important catch of Amelia Kerr when Pakistan defended 11 runs. Fatima states that the third ODI “was the best match ever.”

Earlier in the series, the Pakistan side played the New Zealand XI side and a super over was held as practice. When asked about the pressure of having to play a super over in the third ODI Fatima said “We [Pakistan] practiced well at the start of the series when we played our warmup matches… so everyone was clear about the roles.” 

Bowling for pacers is less common in Pakistan due to the conditions being more favourable to spin bowling. However, in New Zealand, pace bowlers are more favourable because of the movement seamers can get. 

With Fatima being a pacer the conditions in New Zealand are better for her bowling.  “The pitches are supportive from a fast bowling point of view so I just try to bowl in a good line and it helps me in my bowling because of seam and swing of course.”

She also mentions that because the “conditions suit me a lot, I love to go bowling here.” 

Fatima was heavily involved in Pakistan's success in the historic T20I series. She was awarded Player of the Match in the first T20I after she took figures of 3/18 from four overs to help restrict New Zealand to 127/6 in 20 overs. Fatima was also awarded the Player of the Series for the T20I series having taken six wickets at 9.33 and a run rate of less than six per over. 

Her performances over the three games were critical to Pakistan taking out the first two fixtures and therefore taking the series, a feeling that Fatiama says “she can’t describe in words because everyone enjoyed the series.” Fatima also states that “we wanted to win because of Pakistani culture and women’s empowerment in Pakistan.” The series was not only Pakistan’s first-ever series victory over the White Ferns, but it was also the first time a side from Asia had defeated the White Ferns on their soil in a T20I series.  

When she has not been playing for Pakistan, the Canterbury Magicians or training, Fatima has been spending her time exploring what New Zealand has to offer including beaches and malls. Touring around New Zealand and seeing what there is to do is something that Fatima has done during her time with Pakistan and with the Magicians. 

Due to Pakistan’s historic win in the T20I series, Fatima’s favourite ground to have played on in New Zealand is Dunedin’s University of Otago Oval. She has also enjoyed playing on Hagley Oval (the Canterbury Magicians home ground) and Sir John Davies Oval in Queenstown “because of the view.” The view in Queenstown is about the ‘remarkables’ and the planes that fly over the ground due to the airport being right next to the ground. 

Fatima’s favourite moment with the Magicians is that when the team has a victory they celebrate with a song after the match. “After winning they have a proper song to sing, so I like the way the girls celebrate victory.” She also hopes that she can play again for the Magicians because the “girls and management are very supportive and loving.” 

In Pakistan she has represented Karachi, Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited, and the PCB Strikers in domestic cricket. In the Pakistan league, there are no international players, but in the Dream 11 Super Smash, there are four teams that have international players this season. Fatima says that the “addition of overseas players in the domestic creates a lot of difference as well.” When compared with the Pakistan T20 league there are a lot more matches with each team playing two games in Pakistan compared to at least 10 in New Zealand, something that Fatima highlights. “The domestic structure like matches is more than in Pakistan.”