Bismah Maroof has been retained as captain and Iqbal Imam has been appointed as the head coach of Pakistan national women’s team until next year’s ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, which will be held in Australia from February 21 to March 8.

Prior to the Australia event in December, the Pakistan national women’s cricket team will take on England in Kuala Lumpur in the seventh round of ICC Women’s Championship. The three ODIs will be followed by three T20Is.

Bismah, the 28-year-old veteran of 105 ODIs and 103 T20Is, was first appointed as Pakistan captain in the T20I format in 2016 for the tour of England, before taking over as ODI captain post-ICC Women’s World Cup 2017. To date, she has led Pakistan in 15 ODIs and 33 T20Is.

Iqbal Imam played 147 first-class matches from 1989 to 2005 during which he scored 6,249 runs and took 136 wickets.

He was named as the batting coach in April and was made interim head coach for the recent home series against Bangladesh after Mark Coles resigned from the position.

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Bismah Maroof, reflecting on her appointment, said: “It is truly an honour for me to be continuing as Pakistan’s captain and I look forward to leading the side in the next year’s T20 World Cup.”

“The team is in good shape and has produced some good performances recently. There’s a great deal of talent and passion in the girls and I look forward to carrying the momentum to the World Cup,” she added.

Iqbal Imam, expressing his delight at the announcement, said: “It is certainly an honour for me to be appointed as a head coach for the women’s side.”

“Women’s cricket in Pakistan is improving day-by-day and we have a lot of talented girls emerging. Our team has gotten off to a decent start this season by beat Bangladesh in T20I series and levelling the ODI series. There’s a great potential in the side to do wonders and I aim to bring the best out of them,” he added.

 The team’s performance will be reviewed after the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Australia 2020 before future decisions are made as the Pakistan national women’s cricket team has no scheduled Future Tours Programme or ICC commitments until the ICC Women’s World Cup New Zealand 2021, which will be held from January 30 to February 20.