Want to be 'Captain Cool' like Dhoni: Pak women's captain Fatima Sana

New Delhi, Sep 3 (PTI) Pakistan women's cricket team captain Fatima Sana draws inspiration from India's World Cup-winning skipper MS Dhoni and aspires to become 'Captain Cool' like him, as she prepares to lead her side to the 50-over World Cup later this month.

The Women's World Cup, scheduled to commence on September 30, is being co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka with Pakistan set to play all its matches in the island nation following an agreement reached between the BCCI and the PCB.

Pakistan, who remained unbeaten in the qualifiers held in April, will start their campaign against Bangladesh in Colombo on October 2.

"It is natural to be a little nervous initially when captaining in a big tournament like the World Cup, but I take inspiration from Mahendra Singh Dhoni as a captain," Fatima told PTI Bhasha in an interview ahead of the World Cup.

"I have seen his matches as India and CSK captain. His on-field decision-making, calmness and the way he backs his players, there is a lot to learn from that. When I got the captaincy, I thought that I have to become like Dhoni. I also watched his interviews and got to learn a lot," she said.

Dhoni retired from international cricket on August 15, 2020, while Fatima made her ODI debut against South Africa on May 6, 2019.

Pakistan have played the Women's ODI World Cup five times (1997, 2009, 2013, 2017 and 2022) but went without a single win in 1997, 2013 and 2017. In 2022, their only victory was against the West Indies in Hamilton, and the team finished last after losing all the other matches.

All-rounder Fatima, who has scored 397 runs and taken 45 wickets in 34 ODIs, is confident that the jinx will be broken this time around because the young players are aware their performance will decide the future of women's cricket in the country.

"This time, the jinx will definitely be broken because the young players know how important this tournament is for Pakistan women's cricket. We will not think about the past. My goal is to take the team to the semifinals," she added.

"In Pakistan, girls have started playing cricket in schools and international matches are being telecast live. ICC has also taken a good initiative by increasing the prize money for the Women's World Cup, which will inspire budding players in Pakistan. But there is still a barrier which we have to break through this tournament," she said.

"In our country, women's cricket is not seen as a career option. But if we play well, it will make a huge difference. Our effort will be to inspire parents in Pakistan to encourage their girls to make a career in sports," said the all-rounder.

She feels that bowlers will be the key to the team's success, but also insisted that a lot of work has also been done on batting in the last one year.

"We have top-class bowlers in the team and spinners will be our trump card. We will depend more on bowling than batting but in the last one year, we have worked a lot on batting and we will get results," she said.

She said the focus will be on maintaining the rhythm of the qualifiers, and the three-match series against South Africa before the tournament will help in preparing the team combination.

"The team is in good rhythm and after the good performance in the qualifiers, everyone's morale is high. More or less the same players are in the team who played in the qualifiers. This is the first World Cup for six players and they are very excited." The team, which is practising in Lahore, has played only domestic matches after the qualifiers in April but the captain is satisfied with the preparations.

"We had played matches among ourselves in domestic cricket. Before the tournament, we will play a series with South Africa in which we will try to prepare the team combination. We would like the players to play naturally without the pressure of the World Cup," she said.

Calling Australia a strong contender for the title, Fatima said it is not possible to predict the four semifinalists but India's performance has also been consistently good.

"My favourite team is Australia. It is difficult to predict the semifinalists but India's performance has been very good in the last few years. They have very experienced players like Jemimah (Rodrigues), Smriti (Mandhana) and Harmanpreet (Kaur) but we will not focus on any one player." She also said that being the hosts, there will be added pressure on India but there will also be the advantage of playing on home grounds.

"India have never won the World Cup and being the host, there will be pressure to win. But along with this, the presence of home fans also boosts the morale. It depends on the team how it takes it." A big fan of Australian star Ellyse Perry, Fatima started playing street cricket with her brothers at the age of 11 in Karachi. She lost her father during the T20 World Cup last year, but chose national duty over personal grief.

Fatima's grit and determination was reminiscent of Sachin Tendulkar, who returned to play the 1999 World Cup after his father's death. Virat Kohli, as a teenager lost his father, after which he played a Ranji Trophy game the very next day.

"My father dreamed of watching me play in the World Cup. I went back to play to fulfil his wish. I knew that Virat also did the same." PTI MJ AM AM AM