Sidra Amin upbeat ahead of Australia ODIs

Pakistan opening batter Sidra Amin is confident ahead of a challenging limited-overs series against Australia, which begins with the first ODI on January 16 in Brisbane.

Pakistan’s tour consists of three ODIs and as many T20Is. The three ODIs are part of the ICC Women’s Championship 2022-25.

Pakistan enter the ODI series in good form, having registered five wins from their six matches in the ICC Women’s Championship. They clinched a 2-1 win over Sri Lanka in Karachi in June last year and later achieved a 3-0 sweep over Ireland in Lahore in November.

Sidra is at the top of the batting charts in the ICC Women’s Championship with a whopping tally of 495 runs in six games.

“I am here in Australia for the first time, the conditions here are different to Pakistan as the ball rises a bit and I am trying to acclimatise as quickly as possible,” Sidra told PCB Digital.

“We had our preparation camps in Lahore and Karachi where we played some practice games before coming to Australia,” she added.

She also stressed the importance of providing a good start to the team considering her role as the opener.

“As an opener it is a challenging job to face two new balls in ODI cricket, you have to see off the new ball and at the same time score runs and give a good start to the innings. Muneeba [Ali] and I will look to give a good start to the innings so the batters coming after us should have the momentum to take it forward,” she said.

“When you perform individually it helps your team, I will try to score runs which will ultimately benefit my team. The message from coach and captain is very simple, go out and play positive cricket, score runs for the team and help the team do well,” she added.

The Lahore-born batter also opened up about the importance of facing a top side like Australia.

“Everyone knows that Australia is a great side, playing against them is a good omen. It will help us to learn a lot,” she said.

Pakistan ODI squad

Bismah Maroof (c), Aliya Riaz, Ayesha Naseem, Diana Baig, Fatima Sana, Kainat Imtiaz, Muneeba Ali (wk), Nashra Sandhu, Nida Dar, Omaima Sohail, Sadaf Shamas, Sadia Iqbal, Sidra Amin, Sidra Nawaz (wk) and Tuba Hassan.

Traveling Reserves: Aimen Anwar and Javeria Khan

Schedule

16 January – First ODI at Allan Border Field, Brisbane

18 January – Second ODI at Allan Border Field, Brisbane

21 January – Third ODI at North Sydney Oval No.1, North Sydney

24 January – First T20I at North Sydney Oval No.1, North Sydney

26 January – Second T20I at Blundstone Arena, Hobart

29 January – Third T20I at Manuka Oval, Canberra