It was in the early 2000s that a girl in Wah Cantt became the talk of the town. A daredevil, she played cricket in the streets, and had the noticeable audacity to play the game with boys, and would usually be the first one to go to collect the ball if it went inside a house.

Family support became a boon for her as her father and brothers encouraged her cricketing talent and allowed her to cross the conservative boundary. With her resolve to make a name for herself at the top and willingness to put in the hard work, she went on to play for her country and is now a leading name in Pakistan women’s cricket.

Aliya Riaz’s rise at the international level in the last nine years synchronises well with the rise of women’s cricket in Pakistan. With every opportunity, the girls are making progress by leaps and bounds and their recent Twenty20 international series wins against South Africa (at home) and New Zealand (away series) signal that they can be even more competitive and achieve better results in the near future.

Pakistan’s conservative society used to frown on girls playing in open fields. But more and more parents are now showing flexibility in allowing their girls to take the field in sports. Aliya acknowledges this support, without which her dreams would not have come true.

Aliya Riaz’s rise at the international level in the last nine years synchronises well with the rise of women’s cricket in Pakistan. She talks to Eos about her hopes and dreams

“I was attracted to cricket right from my childhood,” Aliya tells Eos. “I was daring enough to play street cricket with my brothers and the other boys in Wah Cantt. There was a lot of talk and complaints from our neighbours who were against street cricket. And then there would be more trouble if the ball would go into the houses. But being small and the only girl among the boys, I would go and get it back. Later, when I told my family that I was serious about cricket they gave me their complete support. That is why I am here,” she smiles.

“I used to play better than the boys so I realised that I can play for Pakistan. At the time, I did not know that Pakistan had a women’s cricket team. When the Pakistan women’s team won gold at the Asian Games in 2010, I was watching the event on television and was enamoured. That day, I resolved to one day play for Pakistan,” she says.

Aliya soon realised that Wah Cantt offered few opportunities for someone with her kind of ambition. So the next stop for her was Lahore, where she enrolled herself in Kinnaird College, famous for producing quality sportswomen. This was where her interest and skills developed manifold.

“I was in my first year of college [in Wah] and, besides studies, I was playing cricket. My college teacher told me about the Under-19 trials in Rawalpindi stadium. My father accompanied me there. I was selected for domestic cricket. Then I moved to Lahore, because there was more cricket being played there.

“Most of the Pakistan women players were in the same college, so I was in good company. There were regular matches in the college. Sir Irfan and Ms Nosheen supported me a lot. Then, in 2014, we had a camp in Abbottabad for 25 girls. I gave the best performance there and I was selected in the Pakistan team.”

During domestic matches in 2014, Aliya hit an unbeaten 156 for Lahore Women in the National Championship. It opened the gates for her and she made her ODI and T20I debuts in August of 2014 against Australia. Slowly and gradually she made her mark.

She fondly remembers the support for her within the national team. “When I came to the team, Sana Baji [Sana Mir] was the captain. She used to guide and support, especially when someone did not perform well. Javeria Wadood and then Nida Dar used to support me a lot. Most senior players were very supportive and it sort of helped my confidence,” she says.

Aliya’s best came against Australia in the three-match neutral venue series in Malaysia. She hit a belligerent 51 against a top-notch Australian attack. Although Pakistan lost the series 3-0, it was Aliya who was praised by all. She developed a six-hitting ability — a trait not common with Pakistan players. She has since made six more ODI half centuries and her strike rate is one of the best among her teammates, a good 64 runs per 100 balls.

Aliya has excelled more in the T20 format. She was Pakistan’s best bowler in the 2018 Twenty20 World Cup in the Caribbean, taking six wickets. She struck her only T20 fifty, a 57 not out, against the UAE in Sylhet in the Asia Cup last year.

The year 2023 has seen Aliya churning out some match-finishing performances. She thumped undefeated knocks of 28 and 31 against South Africa in September — finishing the matches in the final overs with some lusty hitting. She anchored Pakistan’s wins in the first two matches of the series, which Pakistan won 3-0 — their first series win against South Africa.

She again played the finisher’s role adroitly in New Zealand. Her 25 not-out off just 12 balls saw Pakistan clinching the first T20I by seven wickets and another 22-ball 32 not-out earning her the Player of the Match award in the second. Pakistan won the series 3-0 — their first major win against a top team in their country.

Like all followers of Pakistan women’s cricket, Aliya, too, is delighted at the achievement. “The series win against New Zealand is awesome,” she remarks. “The way the girls performed is admirable. Our coaches have done a lot of work. All the players have done well and the best part is a series win in their home. We were aiming for a series win against bigger teams. This success is all thanks to teamwork. Teamwork gets you favourable results.”

The recent results were achieved after a successful programme introduced by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Women’s Wing. Remarkably, the PCB has been spending good funds on women’s cricket and have not let any criticism affect their work.

More matches, more improvement is what Aliya says has helped. “We have been playing back-to-back series, which is how we have improved,” she reckons.

“The PCB is doing a lot of work for the betterment of women’s cricket. It is all a matter of getting opportunities. We had those exhibition matches involving foreign players ahead of the PSL [Pakistan Super League] last year, and that also helped a lot.

“There are Under-19 events, there have been camps for emerging players and then tournaments such as the tri-series, so more and more work is being done by the PCB. Our domestic cricket is growing. One major factor hurting our progress was the lack of new players, but now the pool of players has increased. More and more girls are taking up the game and that is because PCB is carrying out trials in more and more cities. Domestic girls have been given contracts, which has also helped the growth of the game,” she says.

Despite the chasm between the top teams and Pakistan, Aliya is optimistic that women’s cricket will develop more in the coming years. Australia have won seven of the 12 World Cups with England becoming the champions four times and New Zealand once. The domination continues in the Twenty20 World Cup with Australia winning five titles while England and the West Indies have one each. Pakistan have never won more than one match in any World Cup of any format.

Individually, Aliya has always dreamt big from her early days of competing against boys. She wants to play in the Big Bash League in Australia and The Hundred in England. But for her, performances that help her team win matches are more important than personal goals.

“I want to see the Pakistan women’s team competing against top teams, and winning more and more matches, which will attract more and more girls to cricket in the future.”

The writer is a senior cricket analyst.
X: @hashmi_shahid

Published in Dawn, EOS, January 7th, 2024