Fatima Sana Cleared to Miss Sri Lanka T20Is for Historic Women’s Hundred Opportunity

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has allowed Fatima Sana, the captain of the women’s side playing against Sri Lanka recently as part of a T20 International series in Dhaka, to keep her away from the one-out series with Birmingham Phoenix. This decision does allow the young all-rounder to gain much-needed experience in one of the more competitive women’s franchise tournaments in the world, whilst still playing for Pakistan during that crucial ODI series.

Sana will stay with the national squad for a three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka, which is part of the ICC Women’s Championship. She will fly directly from Hambantota to England after the ODI fixtures wrap up on July 28 for the second half of the Women’s Hundred with Birmingham Phoenix. Consequently, she will be absent for the opening two matches of Phoenix’s season, but is hoping to return in time for the rest of the tournament.

The 24-year-old made history last month when she was signed by a The Hundred team, becoming the first Pakistani woman cricketer to do so. She was picked up during the wildcard draft by Birmingham Phoenix as a replacement player for Australian all-rounder Lucy Hamilton. The tournament’s base salary is £15,000 and Sana earned the contract – another sign of her rapidly-growing international career.

Her pick was made soon after an impressive outing in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, during which she nearly led Pakistan to a historic win over South Africa. In that match, Sana scored an unbeaten 55 runs from 38 balls and took 3 wickets for just 16 runs proving her all-rounder abilities.

Pakistan performed poorly overall during the World Cup, finishing just above Bangladesh in their group with one win from five games but Sana was one of the few shining lights for the team. Ending the tournament with 11 wickets at an economy rate of 6.95, she was the highest wicket-taker among fast-emitting weapons in the competition. Overall, she ended the tournament as a joint second-highest wicket-pack alongside Australia’s Sophie Molineux while India’s N. Shree Charani ended the tournament with 14 wickets, topping the charts.

Sana would be playing in her third overseas franchise competition as since 2023, the Women’s Hundred is on In 2022, she played for Barbados Royals in the Women’s Caribbean Premier League while during the most recent season of New Zealand’s Women’s Super Smash (2023-24), she had been with Canterbury.

PNG is in Sri Lanka for a women’s T20I series – Sana has been granted leave by the board to travel after accountability was completed with PCB officials commenting that an agreement had been reached also it would yield individual and national benefits in future, as well.

Read More: Ryan Cook Resigns as Netherlands Men’s Head Coach Following Family Decision || Chamari Athapaththu Heartbroken After Sri Lanka’s World Cup Setback