Pakistan Women’s selectors have named two squads for the busiest month of their year, confirming Fatima Sana as captain for both the DP World Women’s Asia Cup in Dubai and the cricket competition at the Asian Games in Aichi, Japan, while leaving veteran fast bowler Diana Baig out of both line-ups entirely, including as a reserve.
Sana, a seam-bowling all-rounder, missed Pakistan’s recent T20I series in Sri Lanka because of commitments with Birmingham Phoenix in The Hundred, but she returns to lead a squad that is trying to move on from a group-stage exit at the 2026 T20 World Cup, where Pakistan lost to India in their opening match on June 14. Her return to the captaincy, after Sadia Iqbal and others held the reins in her absence, signals that the board wants continuity in leadership heading into two of the biggest assignments on the women’s calendar this year.
Baig squeezed out after a difficult year
Baig, one of the senior pace options in Pakistan’s recent white-ball squads, could not find a place in either the 15-member Asia Cup group or the separate Asian Games squad, missing out even on the list of reserve players. Her omission follows a stretch of indifferent form, including being benched for the first three matches of the T20 World Cup before struggling for rhythm against Australia and the Netherlands when she did play. She was also left out for the T20I series in Sri Lanka alongside another senior bowler, a decision selectors attributed at the time to those recent returns.
The squads for two different tournaments
Pakistan’s 15-player Asia Cup squad includes Fatima Sana as captain alongside Ayesha Zafar, Eman Naseer, Eyman Fatima, Gull Feroza, Momina Riasat, wicketkeeper Muneeba Ali Siddiqui, Najiha Alvi, Nashra Sundhu, Sadia Iqbal, Saira Jabeen, Shawaal Zulfiqar, Tuba Hassan, Umm-e-Hani and Waheeda Akhtar. For the Asian Games, the composition changes slightly: Sadia Iqbal, Waheeda Akhtar and Najiha Alvi make way for Aliya Riaz, Tasmia Rubab and Humna Bilal, a reshuffle selectors say reflects the different conditions and shorter turnaround between the two events.
Two tournaments, two different pressures
The Women’s T20 Asia Cup runs from August 28 to September 13 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, with Pakistan drawn in a group alongside India, Hong Kong-China and Thailand. They face Thailand on September 1, India on September 5 and Hong Kong-China on September 7, before the knockout stage runs from September 10-13. The Asian Games cricket competition follows soon after, from September 17-22 at Korogi Athletic Park in Aichi, where Pakistan open their campaign against Thailand in a quarter-final on September 17 as they chase a third gold medal after triumphs in 2010 and 2014.
Selectors defend the changes, critics want more pace depth
Within the Pakistan Cricket Board, the reshuffle has been framed as a natural consequence of tightly packed white-ball assignments rather than a permanent shift away from senior players, with officials pointing to Sadia Iqbal and Gull Feroza’s return to the squad as evidence selectors still value experience. Independent observers have been less charitable about the pace attack specifically, arguing that dropping Baig without an obvious like-for-like replacement leaves Pakistan reliant on a young and still-developing seam group at two tournaments where conditions in Dubai and Aichi could reward control with the new ball. Some former players have also questioned whether the frequent squad rotation between formats risks disrupting combinations just as the side tries to rebuild confidence after the T20 World Cup exit.
A camp to find answers before Dubai
Before either tournament begins, the squad will assemble for a ten-day training camp at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore, running from August 16 to 25, where the coaching staff are expected to finalise batting combinations and give the depleted pace unit extended net sessions against the moving ball. How Pakistan’s bowlers respond in that camp, and in the opening matches against Thailand and India in Dubai, will go a long way toward settling the debate over Baig’s absence. For now, Sana’s return as captain gives Pakistan a settled leadership figure across both tournaments, even as the make-up of the squad around her continues to shift.
India in the group again raises the stakes
Pakistan’s September 5 group match against India in Dubai is likely to draw the most attention of the three round-robin fixtures, coming barely three months after the two sides met at the T20 World Cup. That earlier defeat, on June 14, was part of the group-stage exit selectors are now trying to move past, and a repeat meeting so soon afterward means the Dubai fixture will inevitably be read as an early measure of whether the squad changes have made a difference. Pakistan’s other group matches, against Thailand and Hong Kong-China, are considered more straightforward on paper, but selectors have been careful publicly not to look past either fixture given the compressed schedule and the toll that travel between Dubai and Aichi will take on the squad.
The Asian Games assignment carries its own historical weight, with Pakistan seeking a third cricket gold medal after winning the event in 2010 and 2014. A quarter-final draw against Thailand on September 17 at Korogi Athletic Park gives Pakistan a favourable opening, but the shortened turnaround between the conclusion of the Asia Cup on September 13 and the start of the Asian Games just four days later means fatigue management will be as important as team selection. Coaching staff have indicated that some squad members could be rotated between the two events specifically to manage that workload, a detail that adds further context to the slightly different rosters named for each tournament.
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