Fatima Sana – a captain burdened, a fast bowler unrestrained
Rain took away Pakistan’s chances on what might have been their biggest night at the World Cup, but Fatima Sana, their captain, wrote her name on the game in indelible letters
Andrew Fidel Fernando16-Oct-2025
Fatima Sana picked up three wickets in her first five overs•ICC/Getty Images
Chapters have been written on captains and their trials in Pakistan men’s cricket, countless talk show and podcast hours have been devoted to the topic, and few positions in the game invoke so much mythology. Pakistan women’s captains know not to expect such things, of course. But if there is a shortage of attention paid, this is not because they have a shortage of stories to tell.In this World Cup alone, Fatima Sana has borne significant burdens. First, there is the inescapable, oppressive geopolitical heft of it all: that there is a Colombo wing to this tournament is down almost totally to Pakistan’s presence in it. In the approach to the tournament, there were also the expected questions about the tension surrounding the fixture with India, and then the entire drama over handshakes, which Sana – a 23-year-old – deserved least of all to be caught up in. She was distinctly uneasy in both instances, approaching these challenges as she might a pair of boulders that required rolling up a hill.But put a ball in the woman’s hand, set her down at the top of her mark, and she is transformed. Who is this person with the hairband and a look of intense determination? In this role, Sana plays in an even richer bloodline – Pakistan fast bowling. This World Cup, her performances have ranged from fierce to fearsome.Related
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Before the match against England on Wednesday, Sana already had five wickets from three matches at an average of 23.4.At a venue best known for the turn it offers spinners, Sana was doing what Pakistan captains are often asked to do – make the best of less-than-ideal situations. Also the rain. It practically forced Sana to put England – a team that had won all three matches so far – in to bat on a track notoriously unkind to chasing teams. So she produced one of the seam-bowling spells of the tournament.Sana’s first wicket was the most aesthetically pleasing, wobble seam outside off, darting back off the surface, shooting between Amy Jones’ bat and pad and into the stumps. The wobble seam was crucial to this spell – some balls held their line, creating doubt in the batters’ minds, and gaps between their bats and pads. Sana bowled Nat Sciver-Brunt off her inside edge with another wickedly jagging ball and then, later in that same seventh over, pinned Heather Knight in front of the stumps.Fatima Sana’s new-ball spell that had set Pakistan on course for a rousing performance•ICC/Getty ImagesSana would get to throw her right fist into the air a fourth time, later in the match, when she had Charlie Dean caught at short fine-leg, after the first stretch of rain. But it had been the new-ball spell that had set Pakistan on course for a rousing performance. After she left England 39 for 4, even the Pakistan outfielders seemed to feed on Sana’s ferocity, running balls down more efficiently than they have all tournament.That rain returned following an excellent start to the chase from Pakistan’s openers felt especially cruel, given the good a victory could have done Pakistan. This could have turned out to be their most famous victory. They had never beaten England in any ODI, let alone in a World Cup.A win for Pakistan would also have been the first serious upset in what has been a tournament short of drama so far. Twice in two nights in Colombo, rain has ruined results that might have opened the tournament up – Sri Lanka also having been the likelier victor when the rains came on Tuesday in their game against New Zealand.With luck, this match will not be remembered long as a great miss for Pakistan women’s cricket. They have three matches left in this tournament, against three oppositions who will perhaps expect to beat them – New Zealand, South Africa and Sri Lanka. But it should be remembered for Pakistan’s fast-bowling captain, as a match on which she wrote her name.