LAHORE - Pakistan women’s ODI and T20I squads brace up for a challenge against a formidable Australia unit in their backyard in the white-ball se- ries consisting of three ODIs and as many T20Is. The three ODIs slated to begin from 16 January are part of the ICC Women’s Championship 2022-25. The first two ODIs will be played at the Allan Border Field in Brisbane on 16 and 18 January, where Pakistan are currently practicing over the past four days. For the final match of the series, the two teams will travel to Sydney to play on 21 January. Pakistan enter the ODI series in good form, having acquired five wins from their six outings in the ICC Women’s Championship. They clinched a 2-1 win over Sri Lanka in Karachi in June last year and later achieved a 3-0 sweep over Ireland in Lahore in November. One of the star performers for Pakistan in both series was opening batter Sidra Amin. The right-handed batter is placed at the top of the batting charts in the ICC Women’s Championship with a whopping tally of 495 runs in six games, 155 runs clear of second-placed Harmanpreet Kaur who has 340 runs to her name. Sharing her views with PCB Digital, 30-year-old Sidra said: “I am here in Australia for the first time, the conditions here are different to Pakistan as the ball rises a bit and I am trying to acclimatise as quickly as possible. “We had our preparation camps in Lahore and Karachi where we played some practice games before coming to Australia.” About her role in the team, she said: “As an opener, it is a challenging job to face two new balls in ODI cricket, you have to see off the new ball and at the same time score runs and give a good start to the innings. Muneeba and I will look to give a good start to the innings so the batters coming after us should have the momentum to take it forward. “When you perform individually it helps your team, I will try to score runs which will ultimately benefit my team. The message from coach and captain is very simple, go out and play positive cricket, score runs for the team and help the team do well,” the right-hand batter said. The Lahore-born batter also opened up about the importance of facing a top-tier side like Australia, in terms of the advanced level of cricket on display and a shot at earning their first-ever win against the hosts. “Everyone knows that Australia is a great side, playing against them is a good omen. It will help us to learn a lot,” said Sidra. Quick Read PTF announces national team for Lithuania Davis Cup tie LAHORE (Staff Reporter): The Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) has announced the Pakistan Davis Cup team for the World Group-I playoff tie against Lithuania to be played on February 3 and 4 at the SEB Arena, Vilnius, Lithuania. According to a press release by the PTF, the national Davis Cup team comprises Aisam ul Haq Qureshi as playing captain while the players include Aqeel Khan, Muhammad Shoaib and Muhammad Abid and Bilal Asim. Muzammil Murtaza, who had qualified for the team, would regrettably not be available for this tie, as he had to travel to the USA for other prior commitments. In order to give exposure to young players, and as suggested by Team Captain and tennis star Aisam Qureshi, the PTF Management decided to select top-ranked U-18 player Bilal Asim to providehim international exposure to prepare him for future. The training camp will start on Jan 16 at
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