Sana was born on 5th January 1986 in Abbottabad (KPK), into a military family from Rawalpindi. Her father, Mir Moatazid, was a colonel in Pakistan Army and during her father’s service, she lived in different cantonments. She received her early education from Army Public School, Gujranwala and completed her matriculation from Margalla Academy, Taxila Cantonment. Later, her family moved to Karachi where she completed her F.Sc. (Pre-Engineering) and B.Sc. (Statistics & Mathematics) from Government Degree College Women in 2008. Soon after completing of the Intermediate, she was admitted to the National University of Sciences & Technology (NUST), but could not complete the Engineering degree due to her focus on cricket.
SANA MIR
Born on 5th January 1986
Pakistani Woman Cricketer
During her childhood, she used to call children from her neighbourhood to play cricket in the street of Gujranwala and Taxila cantonments and in certain cases, we would play the whole day. Elder brother Humayun Mir was her first coach who used to take me to the ground and would skillfully help me in learning the game. Since there was no formal cricket for females at School, College or University level and there was hardly any female cricket club during the 1990s, she instead learnt this game in galies / mohallas (streets) and reached at the highest level of cricket.
At the start of her career, she was a fast bowler and later changed into a spinner, so Waqar Younis has been her first inspiration and as a Captain, Imran Khan, DPM Jayawardene and MS Dhoni have also inspired her.
In 2005, International Cricket Council formally merged with the International Women’s Cricket Council (IWCC) and it brought national women’s bodies under the purview of ICC-affiliated national boards. The PCB also dealt with the matter clumsily, and the situation devolved into an ugly and convoluted legal battle that ended with Shaiza Khan, Sharmeen Khan and other pioneers being ostracized. PCB took control and put out its first women’s team during the same and hosted the Women’s Asia Cup in Karachi. Sana Mir with six other debutants made her first appearance against Sri Lanka, where she made 23 runs and took 0-19 besides holding a catch in the match. In her second game, she came face to face with the great MD Raj at the National Stadium in Karachi. Her in-swinging Yorker routed Raj’s leg stump out of the ground to capture her first wicket on one-day Internationals. India thrashed Pakistan’s novices in that match. To make matters worse, Mir’s earnest but misdirected training regime left her with a debilitating back problem. A lack of qualified medical care meant she was advised to leave the game but the advice she refused. Instead, she received a second opinion that allowed her to switch to off-spin, which she used to bowl indoors when it was too dark to play outside.
In 2006-07, she visited India to India to participate in the third Women’s Asia Cup held at Jaipur. All the matches of the tournament were played at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium. India won this tournament to complete the hat trick. During this tournament, Sana Mir scored 80 runs with the highest score 35 runs besides taking 4 wickets for 110 runs with a best of 3-37 in four ODI matches. After the Asia Cup, Pakistan toured South Africa for a bilateral series, where 5 Women’s One-day matches were played. Sana Mir participated in three matches and scored just 18 runs besides taking only 5 wickets.
In 2007-08, she was chosen to lead Karachi in the National Women’s Cricket Championship. A strong side which had been crippled by the PWCCA split and she initially argued for a more senior member to be made captain but the management did not agree and later it was vindicated when she led the side to a stunning victory over a fancied Lahore in the final. After that Pakistan Women’s team visited South Africa to play in the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup Qualifiers, which were held at Stellenbosch. Pakistan lost the final to South Africa by 8 wickets and was runners-up. However, they qualified for the 2009 Women’s World Cup, which is to be held in Australia. In this tournament, Sana Mir was declared Player of the Tournament.
In 2008-09, the Pakistan Women’s team participated in the Fourth Women’s Asia Cup held in Sri Lanka. In the tournament Pakistan got the third position and India clinches their fourth successive Women’s Asia Cup. Sana Mir’s contribution with the bat was 31 runs and took 4 wickets in four matches. After that, they went to Bangladesh to play in the Tri-Nation Women’s Series, in which Pakistan, India and Bangladesh participated in it. Sri Lanka won the tournament after beating Pakistan by 6 wickets at Share Bangla National Stadium at Mirpur. Sana Mir scored 52 runs but did not take any wickets in three matches. Soon after the tri-nation series was over Pakistan’s Women’s team went off to Australia to participate in the ICC Women’s World Cup, where her performance both with the bat and ball remained ordinary. However, in 7 ODI matches, she could manage only 56 runs and captured only 9 wickets. Around that time Urooj Mumtaz, the national captain, signalled to the PCB that she wished to step down so she could study to be a dentist. The PCB also needed a successor, someone who would not let her captaincy affect performance and Sana Mir could be a better option.
In 2009-10, the Pakistan Cricket board announced her captain and she led Pakistan Women’s Team for the tour of Ireland. In the one-off One-day International played at Dublin she took 4-41 and scored 24 runs and remained victorious in her debut appearance as captain. This was also her maiden Women’s International T/20 match. During the tour, the Women’s team also took part in the RSA T20 Cup and remained the winner. She retained the captaincy for ICC Women’s World Twenty20 held in England the same season. England won the trophy and Pakistan could not make the final four being looser in all the pool matches. Sana Mir’s performance during the cup was also not encouraging she scored just 15 runs and took only 2 wickets in three matches.
In 2010-11, By Winning the National Championship for the fourth time in a row, Sana Mir became the most successful captain of Pakistan at the domestic level. Her team has yet to lose a game at the domestic level in the past four years. Then the Pakistan Women’s team went to South Africa to play in the two back-to-back tournaments in two formats at Potchefstroom and Basseterre. South Africa Women remained unbeaten in the ODI tournament to win the competition and raise two positions to fifth in the Women’s ODI rankings. West Indies Women won the ICC Women’s Cricket Twenty20 Challenge. Pakistan in both tournaments remained in the fourth position. Sana Mir’s individual performance in both tournaments was also not up to the mark. She scored 67 runs and grabbed 6 wickets in 5 ODIs matches and made only 7 runs and captured a solitary wicket in 3 matches of International T/20. During the same season, Pakistan Women’s team departed for Guangzhou (China) to play in the Asian Games, where Cricket officially became an Asian Games sport. An all-round performance from Nida Dar propelled Pakistan to a 10-wicket victory over Bangladesh in the final and clinched the Gold medal. Soon after Pakistan women’s team visited Sri Lanka to play in the ODIs Women’s Quadrangular Series, which was won by Pakistan after beating Ireland Women by 9 wickets were the victorious in T20 International Women’s Quadrangular Series when they defeated Netherlands Women by 12 runs. She was also awarded the Player of the Match award. Sana Mir scored 21 runs and took 4 wickets in four matches in ODIs besides scoring 14 runs and getting a single wicket in the Women T20 International 2 matches. In the summer of 2011, the Pakistan Women’s team toured West Indies. Pakistan Women lost the series in both formats with an identical margin of 3-1. Sana Mir scored 41 runs and took 4 wickets and made 22 runs and captured 4 wickets in four matches of each format.
In 2011-12, she accompanied the Pakistan Women’s team to Bangladesh to participate in the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifying Series, where they lost to West Indies Women in the final by 130 runs and remained the runner-up. However, the Pakistan Women’s team qualified for the 2012 T20 World Cup. Sana Mir made 49 runs and grabbed 3 wickets in 7 matches. Back home she appeared for Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) in domestic cricket and under her captaincy won the first-ever BB Tournament and National Championship for the fifth time in a row. Sana Mir has also become the first-ever female cricketer from Pakistan to be awarded Tamgha-e-Imtiaz on 23 March 2012, for her services in cricket. During the summer of 2012, she toured Ireland & England with the Pakistan Women’s team. While playing against Bangladesh in the Tri-Series at Dublin, she completed 50 wickets in Women’s ODI matches when she dismissed Yasmin Boishakhi, her 3rd wicket in the Bangladesh Women’s innings. Pakistan won the Tri-Series with two wins and four points. In the other format, Pakistan Women also won the T20 Tri-Series. In both formats, she scored 76 runs and took 8 wickets in 4 matches. In the second phase of their tour, they played 2 T20 International matches in England and both were lost.
In 2012-13, in Domestic cricket, the ZTBL team won the second BB tournament and National championship under her Captaincy. This makes it 6 in a row. She also became the first woman cricketer to receive the PCB Woman cricketer of the Year Award. Later she visited Sri Lanka to participate in the ICC Women’s World T20, where she scored 39 runs and took only 4 wickets in 4 matches. After that, they participated in the Asian Cricket Council Women’s Twenty20 Asia Cup held in China. Pakistan Women remained the runner-up after losing to India Women by 18 runs. In three matches Sana Mir took 5 wickets besides scoring 33 runs. In the summer of 2013, she accompanied the Pakistan Women’s team to tour England and Ireland. The team has beaten England for the first time in any format and levelled the T20 series. In the second phase, they beat Ireland Women’s team in both formats. Besides this, they also appeared in the ICC Women’s World Twenty20 Qualifiers and qualified for the next year’s ICC Women’s World Twenty20 2013-14, which will be held in Bangladesh. So overall on the tour she made 56 runs and took 3 wickets in 5 matches.
In 2013-14, Pakistan Cricket Board hosted a Women’s One-Day and Twenty20 International tri-series with Ireland, Pakistan and South Africa competing at Doha Qatar. South Africa made it back-to-back wins over Pakistan to win the 50 overs tri-series and Pakistan cruised to victory in the final of the 20-over 20 overs tri-series over South Africa. Sana Mir made 82 runs and took 10 wickets in 10 matches of both formats. After that Pakistan Women’s team visited Bangladesh to play two ODIs and two T20 matches. Pakistan Women lost the ODI series 2-0 but won the T20 series by winning both matches. Soon after the series was over, Pakistan Women played in the ICC Women’s World T20 and Pakistan Women took the 7th position. Overall on the tour, Sana Mir scored 132 runs and captured 9 wickets in 10 matches in both formats. In the summer of 2014, the Pakistan Women’s team undertook a tour of Australia, where they played a series of 4 One day internationals and 4 Twenty20 internationals. Australians won both series by 4-0. In both formats, Sana Mir made 69 runs and got 8 wickets in 8 matches. Pakistan Women’s team snatches its second consecutive Gold medal in Asian Games held at Incheon (South Korea) after beating Bangladesh Women by 4 runs on Duckworth/Lewis method.
In 2014-15, Pakistan Women played their home series against Sri Lanka Women in Sharjah (UAE). The tour included three One Day Internationals and three Women’s Twenty20 International matches. Pakistan Women won the ODI series and Sri Lanka Women remained victorious in the T20 International series with a 2-1 margin. After that South Africa’s Women’s cricket team faced Pakistan at the same venue. The tour consisted of three Day Internationals and three T20 International matches. Pakistan women lost the ODI series and South Africa won the T20 International series by an identical margin of 2-1. In both formats, Sana Mir scored 265 runs and took 15 wickets in 12 matches. During the match against Sri Lanka Women, Sana Mir also scored his maiden fifty (51 not out) of her ODI career.
In 2015-16, the Bangladesh Women’s team toured Pakistan to play a home series. They played two ODIs and two T20 Internationals. Pakistan Women made a clean sweep by winning in both formats. Sana Mir participated in all four matches to score 12 runs and took 3 wickets. After that Pakistan Women’s team visited West Indies for a bilateral series. During the tour, they played 4 ODIs and 3 T20 International matches. Pakistan Women lost both formats by 3-1 and 3-0. Sana Mir made 92 runs and took 5 wickets in 7 matches. On returning home Pakistan Women also toured the USA to play two T20-friendly matches. Later Pakistan Women visited India to participate in the ICC Women’s World T20. India hosted the event for the first time, with matches played from 15 March to 3 April 2016. The tournament was run simultaneously with the men’s World Twenty20, with the final of each tournament played on the same day at the same venue (Eden Gardens, Kolkata). In the tournament final, the West Indies defeated defending champions Australia by eight wickets, claiming their first title. Pakistan Women got the 7th Position in the tournament. Sana Mir hit 29 runs and captured 2 wickets in 4 matches. In the summer of 2016, Pakistan Women undertook a tour of England to play a bilateral series. In 6 matches of both formats, Sana Mir made 67 runs and took 3 wickets.
In 2016-17, the Pakistan Women’s team toured New Zealand for a bilateral series. The tour consisted of five Women’s One Day Internationals and a solitary Women’s T20 International. New Zealand Women crushed Pakistan Women in the ODI series by 5–0 and won the one-off T20I match by 14 runs. Sana Mir scored 54 runs and took 7 wickets in both formats. Soon after, Pakistan Women went off to Bangkok (Thailand) to play in the sixth edition of the ACC Women’s Asia Cup, organized by the Asian Cricket Council. India beat Pakistan by 17 runs in the final. Along with India and Pakistan, four other teams took part – Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, hosts Thailand, and Nepal (the latter two teams qualifying through the Women’s World Cup Asia Qualifier). Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka had Twenty20 International (T20I) status but matches featuring either Nepal or Thailand did not have T20I status. Sana Mir played in 4 matches and scored just 18 runs besides taking 6 wickets. Then the Pakistan Women’s team participated in the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup Qualifiers, which were held in Colombo, Sri Lanka. It was the final stage of the qualification process for the 2017 World Cup in England. The tournament was the fourth edition of the World Cup Qualifiers, and the first to be held in Sri Lanka. The final was contested between India and South Africa, with India winning by 1 wicket. Along with the two finalists, both Sri Lanka and Pakistan have qualified for the 2017 Women’s Cricket World Cup. Sana Mir in 5 matches made 73 runs besides taking 6 wickets in the tournament. In the summer of 2017, the Pakistan Women’s team visited England to take part in the ICC Women’s World Cup. It was the eleventh edition of the Women’s Cricket World Cup, and the third to be held in England. The 2017 World Cup was the first in which all participating players were fully professional. Eight teams qualified to participate in the tournament. England won the final against India at Lord’s by 9 runs. Pakistan remained at bottom of the eight teams because losing their all the matches in the World Cup. Sana Mir made 153 runs and captured 6 wickets in 7 matches.
In 2017-18, New Zealand women’s cricket team played a home series against Pakistan Women Sharjah (UAE). The tour consisted of three Women’s One Day Internationals and four Women’s Twenty20 Internationals. It was the first time that New Zealand Women played an away series against Pakistan. Ahead of the series, Bismah Maroof was made captain of the Pakistan women’s ODI team, after Sana Mir was axed from the role. However, she played as a player in the series. New Zealand Women won the ODI series 2–1 and the T20I series 4–0 margin. Sana Mir made 92 runs besides taking 13 wickets in 6 matches. Then the Pakistan Women’s team visited Sri Lanka to play a bilateral series. The tour consisted of three Day Internationals and three T20 Internationals matches. Pakistan Women won the ODI series 3–0 and the T20I series by a 2–1 margin. Sana Mir scored 92 runs besides taking 13 wickets in 6 matches of both formats. In the summer of 2018, Pakistan Women’s team toured Malaysia to play in the third edition of the Women T20 Asia Cup. The tournament was contested between Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand. It was India’s seventh consecutive Asia Cup final and the first for Bangladesh. Bangladesh beat India by three wickets in the final to win their first Asia Cup title and became the only other team to win the title besides India. Pakistan remained in the third slot. Sana Mir played 3 matches and scored just 14 runs besides taking a solitary wicket during the tournament.
In 2018-19, Pakistan Women’s team toured Bangladesh to play a bilateral series. During the tour, they played 4 T20 Internationals and a solitary One-day International match. Pakistan Women won the T20I series by 3–0 after the first match was washed out. Bangladesh Women won the one-off ODI match by six wickets. Sana Mir scored just 12 runs and took 5 wickets in 4 matches of both formats. After that Pakistan Women’s team off to Malaysia to play a bilateral series against Australia. The tour consisted of three Women’s One Day Internationals and three Women’s Twenty20 Internationals. It was the first women’s bilateral series played in Malaysia, with all the matches being played at the Kinrara Academy Oval. Australia women won both the ODI and T20I series by 3–0. Sana Mir took 8 wickets besides scoring 76 runs in 6 matches of both formats. After that Pakistan Women’s team off to West Indies to participate in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup. Australia won their fourth title after beating England in the final by 8 wickets. Sana Mir scored 23 runs besides taking 4 wickets in 4 matches. Then the West Indies Women’s team arrived in Pakistan to play Three T20 International matches. Pakistan Women lost the series by a 2-1 margin. Sana Mir played in all three matches while scoring just 2 runs and taking 3 wickets. In the summer of 2019, Pakistan Women’s team undertook a tour of South Africa to play bilateral series. The tour consisted of three One-day Internationals and five T20 International matches. The ODI series was drawn 1–1 after the third and final match finished as a tie. Overall six ODI matches have finished in a tie, with this being the first one involving Pakistan, and the third one to feature South Africa. South Africa won the T20I series 3–2. Sana Mir during the tour scored 22 runs besides taking 10 wickets in 8 matches of both formats.
In 2019-20, the Bangladesh Women’s team arrived in Pakistan to play home series against Pakistan Women. She played in her only appearance in the T20 International at Lahore, where she did not require to bat and took a solitary wicket in the match. In the ODI series, she played in the second match where she scored 13 runs and took only one wicket. The above two matches were his last appearances in both formats.
In November 2019 she announced that she would be taking a break from international cricket. But on 25 April 2020, she announced her retirement from international cricket.
Overall, in her career, she scored 1630 runs at 17.91 with 52 runs as her highest besides taking 151 wickets at 24..27 with a best of 5-32 in 120 Women One-day International matches from 2005-06 until 2019-20. She also played 106 Women’s International T20 matches, where she scored 825 runs at 14.22 with 48 not out as her highest score and took 89 wickets with a best of 4-13 from 2009 to 2019-20.
After retiring from active cricket later she became a cricket Commentator.
Sana Mir has become the first-ever female cricketer from Pakistan to be awarded Tamgha-e-Imtiaz on 23 March 2012, for her services in cricket.
