Pakistan Women’s Crisis: Selection Questions After Exit
Pakistan Women became the first team eliminated from the 2026 T20 World Cup on June 20, losing to Bangladesh by 23 runs after collapsing from 49 for 0 to defeat. It was their third loss in three games, following defeats to India and South Africa. Across all three, the same pattern repeated. A strong position. A middle-overs collapse. One player fighting alone.
That player has almost always been Fatima Sana. The questions building around her since the India match have only gotten louder. Why is she carrying this team by herself, and why does the squad around her look unchanged despite three straight defeats.
Wahab Riaz: A Pattern, Not a One-Off
Wahab Riaz is Pakistan’s women’s head coach. He also serves as senior manager and chief selector for the men’s team. Both roles under his watch have ended the same way this cycle.
Pakistan’s men were eliminated in the Super 8 stage of the 2026 T20 World Cup. Pakistan’s women have now been eliminated in the group stage of the 2026 Women’s T20 World Cup, the first team out of the tournament.
Two squads, two formats, two genders, the same coaching and selection figure, the same outcome.
Riaz has not addressed the women’s elimination publicly in detail. The criticism circulating since the loss centres less on tactics from a single match and more on a broader question. What is the actual qualification for the role he holds in women’s cricket, and why has accountability for repeated group-stage exits not extended to him.
The Sidra Amin Question
During live commentary on the Bangladesh match, former Pakistan captain Sana Mir raised a question that has been building on social media for weeks. Why is Sidra Amin not in this squad.
Amin scored centuries consistently against South Africa last year. On Pakistan’s most recent Zimbabwe tour, she made 67 and an unbeaten 59. She is an established, in-form batter with the kind of experience Pakistan’s middle order has visibly lacked across all three World Cup defeats.
Her omission has no public explanation from PCB. Mir’s on-air comment during the broadcast turned a fan grievance into a question now being asked by a respected former international.
Aliya Riaz: The Selection Nobody Can Explain
Aliya Riaz has played every match of this World Cup despite a run of form that statistics do not support. Her career strike rate sits at 99 in T20Is and 66 in ODIs, with averages of 21 and 25 respectively.
She was originally selected as a bowling all-rounder but has bowled sparingly in recent series, leaving her contributing mainly as a specialist batter with numbers that do not justify the role.
In the Bangladesh match, she was dismissed for nought, one of three batters removed by Meghla in a single over that effectively ended Pakistan’s chase.
Pakistan cricket fans on X and Reddit have pointed to her continued selection as the clearest example of a squad picked without a clear merit-based process behind it.
Pakistan Women: Three Matches, Three Defeats in T20WC26
| # | Opponent | Result | Key Moment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | India | Lost | Collapsed from 52/1, losing 9 wickets for 54 runs. |
| 2 | South Africa | Lost by 2 wickets | Fatima Sana scored 55*, but Pakistan fell short by 1 run. |
| 3 | Bangladesh | Lost by 23 runs | Collapsed from 49/1, losing 7 wickets for 35 runs. |
Where Is Eyman Fatima?
This is the question that connects everything above into one argument.
Eyman Fatima is 21 years old, with a T20I strike rate of 150.70 and a maiden international half-century of 79 not out against Zimbabwe earlier this year, the joint-highest score by a Pakistan batter at this level this season.
She is part of Pakistan’s provisional pool for this tournament. She has not played a single one of Pakistan’s three World Cup matches.
Aliya Riaz strike rate: 99. Eyman Fatima strike rate: 151. One has played every match and failed to convert. The other has waited on the sidelines through three group-stage losses without an opportunity.
This is not a call to drop a senior player out of sentiment. It is the same question fans have asked about the men’s team for years now being asked about the women’s setup too: why does form not appear to drive selection in either format.
What Pakistani Fans Are Actually Saying
The reaction since the Bangladesh defeat has not been about one bad match. It has been about a pattern that keeps repeating without consequence.
The comparison being made most often is with Bangladesh themselves. Despite having a fraction of the resources and facilities available to Pakistan’s setup, Bangladesh have now beaten Pakistan with a clearer batting structure and sharper death bowling.
Fans on social media have pointed out that the gap in facilities between the two boards is real, but the gap in actual cricketing class on the field has narrowed to almost nothing, and on this occasion did not exist at all.
The broader criticism extends beyond personnel. Questions about coaching appointments, the qualifications behind current support staff roles, and the absence of a transparent selection process have all resurfaced with this defeat in a way they had not after the India or South Africa losses individually.
The One Player Who Has Delivered
Fatima Sana’s numbers across this World Cup stand apart from everyone else in the squad. Against India, she top-scored. Against South Africa, she scored 55 not out and took 3 wickets in the same match. Against Bangladesh, her opening bowling burst of 3-1-9-2 very nearly won Pakistan the match on its own.
She has done this as captain, as the team’s primary batting hope, and as its most reliable bowler, in a squad that has otherwise delivered almost nothing across three matches.
The criticism directed at the broader setup is in part, a reflection of how far above the rest of the team her individual performances have stood.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why was Pakistan Women eliminated first from the 2026 T20 World Cup? Pakistan Women lost all three of their group matches, against India, South Africa, and Bangladesh, with two group games still remaining for other teams. The Bangladesh defeat on June 20 mathematically eliminated them, making Pakistan the first team out of the tournament.
Why is Sidra Amin not in Pakistan’s T20 World Cup 2026 squad? PCB has not given a public explanation for Sidra Amin’s exclusion. Former captain Sana Mir raised the question during live commentary of the Bangladesh match, noting Amin’s consistent recent form, including centuries against South Africa and scores of 67 and 59 not out on Pakistan’s last Zimbabwe tour.
Has Eyman Fatima played any matches at the 2026 Women’s T20 World Cup? Eyman Fatima has not played any of Pakistan’s three group matches at the 2026 Women’s T20 World Cup despite being part of the squad. She holds a T20I strike rate of 150.70 and scored 79 not out against Zimbabwe earlier in 2026.
