Sidra Amin, the opening batter for Pakistan’s women’s cricket team, has had a phenomenal 2022. The 30-year-old cricketer has three centuries in 49 One-Day Internationals (ODIs), all in 2022.
Her unbeaten 176 off 151 balls against Ireland in the first ODI of the series on Friday not only helped her side win by 128 runs, but also moved Pakistan closer to clinching crucial ICC Women’s Championship points.
Sidra played in 10 One-Day Internationals this year and scored 420 runs, including two centuries — 104 against Bangladesh in the ICC Women’s World Cup, the first by a Pakistan batter, and 123 against Sri Lanka in the ICC Women’s Championship match at the Southend Club in Karachi in June.
Her 176 is the highest individual score among Pakistan’s batters, surpassing Javeria Khan’s 133 not out against Sri Lanka at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium in January 2015.
Sidra’s three centuries to date have allowed her to break Javeria’s record of most centuries (two) for a Pakistan batter in the 50-over format.
Ireland’s players, who are currently on their maiden tour to Pakistan for six limited-overs matches, will be eager to rebound when the two teams meet again for the second ODI on Sunday at the Gaddafi Stadium.
In an exclusive interview with PCB Digital, the Lahore-born batter recalled her innings and match-winning record first-wicket partnership with Muneeba Ali, who scored her maiden ODI century: “I always work hard and prepare myself before going into the match. But this year, I trusted and backed myself to do well. I have changed my approach a bit, now I am thinking about going for runs on every ball and it is paying dividends now.”
Sidra, who has 1,180 ODI runs in 49 matches, praised her teammates’ support and the confidence they gave her in propelling her to an epic ton on Friday.
“I am very happy with my innings, when I reached triple figures, I had made up my mind to go for more runs and the support I was getting from the dressing room helped me to score big and achieve the record.” She added.
Sidra had only played three of her 80 international matches at her home ground, the Gaddafi Stadium, and had scores of 21, 4, and 19, all against Bangladesh in 2019.
Sidra described her past struggles and triumphs in Lahore, saying, “I always dreamt of playing here at the Gaddafi Stadium.”
“In one domestic tournament here, I was ruled out of the tournament due to injury, then in 2019 during Bangladesh women’s series here, I could not score runs, I was dropped and eventually, my name was omitted from the central contracts list. So this was in my mind, I realised, I got the opportunity, I want to do well, so people remember my knock and so do I.”
“The captain and coaching staff who supported me by giving me a number of matches to perform. Teammates, fans, and friends are important to me and I am dedicating this knock to all of them.”
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