Women's Cricket
Bismah Maroof pulls out of Asian Games due to 'no child policy'
Former Pakistan skipper Bismah Maroof has pulled out of the Asian Games due to the "no traveling with children" policy.
Bismah Maroof, her daughter Fatima and mother (Source: Getty Images)
Pakistan Women's cricket team suffered a double blow as former skipper Bismah Maroof pulled out of the Asian Games because of the event's "no traveling with children" policy.
This comes after the pre-mature retirement of youngster Ayesha Naseem resulting in Pakistan losing two of their leading performers before the upcoming Games.
Bismah declined to be part of the Asian Games squad after the organizers refused permission for participating nations to have athletes bring their babies to the Games.
The head of the Pakistan Cricket Board's women's cricket wing, Tania Mallick said that it was unfortunate the team would not have the services of Bismah at the Asian Games.
Tania confirmed that Bismah was not named in the squad as she would not have been able to travel with her daughter to the Games village due to the regulations in place.
Pakistan Cricket Board in a statement said, "The PCB respects and understands her decision to quit the game for personal reasons. We wish her the best in future endeavors."
But the reason behind her retirement is still unclear with some reports saying that she has decided to give up cricket to strictly follow her religion while other speculations say that she might have retired after a marriage proposal.
The youngster was considered a budding talent having already represented Pakistan in the white-ball formats.
Before the Asian Games, the Pakistan women's team will feature in the home series against South Africa comprising three T20Is and three ODIs (part of ICC Women's Championship 2022-25) in Karachi from September 1 to 14. The squad for the bilateral series will be announced in due course.
Pakistan won gold medals in the last two editions of the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China in 2010 and Incheon, South Korea 2014, and will be aiming for a hat-trick when they feature in this year's event, scheduled to take place on September 19 to 26.
The event will be played in the T20 format.
Pakistan Squad: Nida Dar (captain), Aliya Riaz, Anoosha Nasir, Diana Baig, Fatima Sana, Muneeba Ali, Najiha Alvi, Nashra Sundhu, Nataliya Parvaiz, Omaima Sohail, Sadaf Shamas, Shawaal Zulfiqar, Sidra Amin, Syeda Aroob Shah, and Umm-e-Hani.
