The Pakistan women’s team had a disappointing campaign at the Women’s T20 World Cup 2026. They finished fourth in Group A after losing to Australia, India, South Africa, and Bangladesh. Their only win came against the Netherlands, but they had to work hard for it.
Since their early exit from the marquee event, Fatima Sana and Co. have received sexist backlash. Former Pakistan captain Sana Mir came to the aid of the current team and urged fans to replace gender-based attacks with constructive criticism.
Mir, who played 226 matches across formats for Pakistan, also mentioned that the women’s team is judged way more harshly than their male counterparts.
“The thing that pains me the most right now is our mindset. When we discuss women, it’s about the perspective we adopt, the way we talk about them, and the extent to which we try to break their confidence whenever they make a mistake. Unless we change this mindset, we as a society will never move forward,” Mir said in a video on Instagram.
“Some people did support us, but what we’ve mostly seen is players being bashed. More importantly, they’re being targeted because they’re women. Haven’t our men’s teams lost World Cups? Haven’t their performances gone up and down as well? Yet when it comes to women, the conversation shifts to feminism and all sorts of stereotypes about how women behave,” she added.
Mir said that excessive criticism, especially gender-based criticism, breaks the vigour of female cricketers and urged fans to understand that they are also representing their nation. She mentioned that such a sexist mentality hurts society.
“We, too, sit on sports shows and criticise performances, but have you ever heard a woman cricketer say about a male cricketer, ‘He’s better off making rotis in a tandoor; that’s what he should be doing’? There’s a way to speak about people. These players represent your country. They’re your fellow human beings—they have minds, talent, and they’ve already proved themselves. So why speak about them in such a manner?” Mir said.
“The way women are viewed is deeply troubling. People create AI-generated videos, spread one lie after another about players, and even drag their families into it. This is the very mindset that suppresses women. And it’s not just your women’s cricket team that suffers because of it—your society suffers too. Your daughters aren’t safe, your elders aren’t safe, and no one is truly protected from the consequences of this mentality,” Mir added.
Pakistan will look to regroup and bounce back strongly when they head to Sri Lanka to play three ODIs and as many T20Is in July-August.
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Author: adreejkumarmitra
