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Karachi: Stand-in captain of the West Indian women’s team, Merissa Aguilleira, on Wednesday hoped that the other cricket nations will follow her side and tour Pakistan in the near future. Aguilleira reached Karachi on Tuesday night with her team to play a series of three T20 internationals before the ODI series, which would be held in Dubai. However, their regular skipper Stafanie Taylor decided not to travel to Pakistan due to security concerns. This is the first visit by a West Indian women’s team to Pakistan since 2004 when an unofficial Test and seven ODIs were played at a time when women’s cricket was still developing in the country.
Our interim captain @mraguilleira for the T20I series vs @TheRealPCB @maroof_bismah unveiled the series throphy upon the team’s arrival in Pakistan. They included a Pakistani tradition with the decorated camel as part of the proceedings.#WindiesCricket #WIWvPAKW pic.twitter.com/db8wdGwSA0
— WINDIES Women (@windieswomen) January 30, 2019
“I think the Pakistanis are heading in the right direction when it comes to bringing back international cricket to Pakistan. We have come here with a positive mindset and we are emotionally, physically and mentally prepared for whatever challenge the home side can throw at us,” Aguilleira told a media conference. “When I came off the flight the hospitality and warmth of the people who are so caring and loving caught us by surprise. When it comes to bringing back cricket to Pakistan, I believe other teams should also rethink about coming to Pakistan.” Taylor opted out of the Karachi leg of the series and will join her team in the UAE for the ODIs.
Asked if she and her players had faced any mental hurdles before deciding to come to Pakistan, Aguilleira replied in the affirmative. “Of course, we had mixed emotions but I mean when I am looking at it right now, if we had not come to Pakistan I would have been so disappointed. Away from Pakistan, you think differently about the situation here, but when you are here and there is so much going on, you get lost in the cricket.”
She also said that after the emphatic win by the West Indies men’s team over England in the first Test, the women would also like to emulate the performance of their male counterparts. The first T20 match will be played at the Southend club on Thursday and as expected, it will be staged under a tight security cover. Pakistan have been trying to revive regular international cricket in the country after teams stopped touring the sub-continent nation in the wake of a terrorist attack on the Sri Lanka team bus in Lahore in 2009.
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