Senior General Manager of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Women’s Wing Shahid Aslam believes that women’s cricket in the country will witness a big change in next couple of years.

While speaking in an exclusive interview with Cricket Pakistan, Aslam said that women’s team will challenge the top sides of the world but it’s going to take some time. 

“I don’t that we can challenge team like Australia, New Zealand, England and India for the next couple of years because there is a massive gap between our respective structures and history,” said Aslam. “We will improve gradually and our first target is to overcome sides like West Indies and South Africa before going on to challenge the other top teams. I can assure you that in next couple of years, you will see big change in women’s cricket.”

He was also satisfied with the direction women’s cricket was moving in despite the challenges it currently faces.

“Although women’s cricket in Pakistan is facing many challenges such as lack of infrastructure facilities and certain social barriers but the signs are encouraging and we are moving in the right direction,” he said.

Speaking about the team’s five-year plan, Aslam said: “In accordance with our vision 2022, we are working on improving cricket at grassroot level such as club and school cricket in order to develop women’s cricketers in a better manner. We are also focusing on developing under 17, under 23 and A team alongside collaboration with universities. We also want to introduce women’s cricket in 250 schools while also collecting proper data about it. There is special emphasis on ensuring that regional academies are also properly functional. It is important to ensure that PCB support staff, women’s wing and provincial governments all play role in promoting the women’s game in the country. We have 15 coaches, although that is a small number considering the population, who are working all over the country in order to unearth and also develop new talent.”

Pakistan women’s team captain Javeria Khan had earlier stressed on the need of a T20 League for women on the same basis as Pakistan Super League. Sharing his thoughts on this matter Aslam said that the league must be a sustainable one — which is not the case right now. 

“It is in our five-year plans but it is not just about creating a league because it must be sustainable as well,” he said. “If we look at our current situation we don’t have that kind of following in women’s cricket as compared to the men’s game due to different culture and results of the women’s team.”

Aslam also confirmed that the PCB is trying to convince West Indies to tour Pakistan — bearing in mind the fact that they are scheduled to play a series at the start of February next year.

“We are trying to convince West Indies women’s team to tour Pakistan even if it’s just for a part of the series,” he said. “They are bound to play Pakistan under the ICC Women’s Championship and hopefully our girls will get the opportunity to play in front of their home crowd.”