Sana Mir axed as Pakistan's ODI captain; Bismah Maroof to lead side

New Delhi: It has been an ongoing speculation since Pakistan women's team abysmal performance in the ICC Women's World Cup 2017. And now Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on September 30, announced their decision – Sana Mir has been axed from her role as the team's skipper amid a lot other drastic changes made to the team's management.

Mir had taken on the responsibility as the captain of the Pakistan cricket team back in 2009. Since then, she led her side to 72 ODI matches winning 26 of them and losing 45 games. Mir has also led the Pakistani women side in the shortest format of the game on 65 occasions until June 2016. However, following the team's poor performance in World Cup in June 2017, where they had finished eighth going winless throughout their campaign, she was engulfed by heavy criticism. In fact, then coach Sabih Azhar had filed a report stating her captaincy to be "self-centered, egotistical and being wrapped up in oneself".

Ergo, following her removal, Bismah Maroof will take over the role of captaincy in the ODI format along with her role in T20I. But Mir will of course be part of the Pakistani squad in both the formats. And for the decision, well PCB went for it with the notion to revamp women`s cricket set-up.

So the other changes in the management includes, removal of Shamsa Hashmi from her role as General Manager. Ayesha Ashar, team's manager, has been removed but has been kept as an interim until the board finds a new general manager.

"The decisions have been taken to address the decline in the performance of women`s team," PCB chairman Najam Sethi said."These are well thought-out decisions taken after a comprehensive internal review. I am hopeful that we will transform women`s cricket into a well-knit unit both on the field and at the management level.Sana Mir has made great contributions towards Pakistan`s women cricket. She has played an instrumental role for women`s cricket in Pakistan. She has led the team with great respect and had always used her best abilities to serve the women`s team," he added.