At a time when Hayley Matthews' visiting West Indies team is on Pakistan tour (the visitors have won the ODI series 3-0 and have to play the T20 series), the host team's top cricketer Bismah Maroof has suddenly decided to retire from cricket. Did. Bismah had scored only 91 runs in 3 ODIs, the role that Mithali Raj played in India in taking women's cricket to the modern era, almost the same contribution has been made by Bismah for Pakistan women's cricket and there is no comparison of the run count in it. No need. She became the captain of T20 team in June 2016 and ODI team in September 2017.

Some career highlights:

• She was in the Pakistan team that won gold twice in the Asian Games in 2010 and 2014.
• Participated in 4 ODI World Cups (2009, 2013, 2017 and 2022). Was the captain in 2022.
• Played in 8 T20 World Cups (2009, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020 and 2023) and captain in 2020 and 2023.

Khabbu batsman – Total 276 international matches since his ODI debut against India in 2006 and this is a Pakistan record. Total record- Scored 6262 runs with 33 fifties and 88 wickets with right arm leg-spin. Thus, Bismah retired from the game she loved the most and which she not only faced many challenges to play but also paved the way for many young girls in Pakistan to play cricket.

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Any discussion of his cricket career is incomplete without the mention of his daughter Fatima – who took a break from cricket in December 2020 for the birth and subsequent nursing of her child but returned for the ODI World Cup in January 2022. This comeback was not easy because now she was a mother – here the Pakistan Cricket Board gave Bismah the support that no one was expecting. The board made a parental policy and it included all support for a mother to play cricket. It was this support that not only helped Bismah play herself but also helped in changing the mindset that marriage and especially becoming a mother meant the end of her cricket career.

Everyone knows about the difficulties that come in the way of any girl wanting to play cricket in Pakistan. When Bismah started playing cricket at the age of 16, there was no separate ground for girls, there were a lot of taunts and even death threats from fundamentalists. Some girls like Bismah Amjad and Nida Dar even cut their hair short to look like a 'boy'. The family forbade playing because it would cause problems in the marriage. Bismah was fortunate to have her father's support and Bismah's playing proved to be a game changer for girls' cricket in Pakistan.

Women's cricket in Pakistan today has many stories to tell and playing 3 Women's T20 matches during Pakistan Super League Season 8 is a proof of the new era and progress. Even before India, Pakistan announced the organization of women's cricket T20 league – not being able to do so is a different matter. Nevertheless, changes are coming due to the policies made in Pakistan cricket in the last few years. In this context, Pakistan showed the same modernity which was visible in other countries on the platform of international cricket.

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Believe it or not, 8 mothers played in the 12th Women's ODI World Cup in New Zealand – Satterthwaite and Tahuhu from New Zealand, Megan Schutt and Rachael Haynes from Australia, Lizelle Lee and Masabata Klaas (South Africa), Bismah Maroof (Pakistan), and Effie Fletcher (West Indies). . In men's cricket, no one takes note of how many players are fathers, but it is not a common thing for 8 cricketer mothers to play in a global tournament. Well, the price of motherhood has to be paid in cricket but we cannot deny the reality of change.

Surprisingly, despite this change, Bismah was not allowed to stay in the athlete village with her daughter in the last Asian Games due to which she did not play, but she is happy that women's cricket is getting its rightful identity. She says – There was a time when no one or very few people knew that Pakistan women's cricket team even existed but with more matches and live coverage, it has gained recognition and respect. It will continue to get better with time.

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