Omaima Sohail Biography : In Pakistan, things were not the same between men’s and women’s cricket. While the male cricketers used to be centrally contracted by the Pakistan Cricket Board, their female counterparts were contracted on a match-by-match basis. That was the norm, until recently, PCB decided to opt for equality.
In January of this year, PCB gave central contracts to 17 female cricketers. While most of the names are not a surprise, not many expected Omaima Sohail to be in that list.
She is the only new player to have received a central contract. However, those who have been following Pakistan’s domestic circuit very closely, would say that PCB’s decision is justice well served.
Sohail has been playing well in the domestic competitions recently, and PCB’s Director of Cricket Operations Haroon Rashid also highlighted how the contracts have been given on the basis of performance. “I know the four players who have not been awarded contracts will be disappointed, but the new contracts are related to performances.
I am confident that these players will continue to work harder to reclaim their places in the contract list,” Cricket Country quoted him saying.
Early Life & Major Teams
Omaima Sohail was born on 11 July, 1997 at Karachi, Sind. She has played for her local age-group teams Karachi Under-19s Women and Karachi Under-21s Women. Besides that, she has also played for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Women, Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited Women, State Bank of Pakistan Women, Omar Associates Women, PCB Women XI, PCB Blasters and Karachi Women.
Domestic Career
Sohail started her T20 career at the 2nd Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Women Cricket Tournament 2012/13. Playing for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Women, she was dismissed for a duck in the very first game. Her professional List A career started at the Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah Women Cricket Championship Seniors 2014.
Playing for Karachi Women against Sialkot Women, she bowled 6 overs and conceded only 16 runs. She didn’t get a chance to bat.
International Career
Sohail got her first chance to represent Pakistan in an ODI game against Bangladesh at Cox’s Bazar. Once again, she was dismissed for a duck on her debut. Her bowling services wasn’t used in that game. Her T20I debut came against Australia at Kuala Lampur. This time, however, she was very handy with the bat.
Against a brilliant Australian bowling lineup, Sohail scored 25 runs from just 23 deliveries. Sohail was a part of the Pakistani side that took part in the 2018 Women’s Twenty20 Asia Cup. She was also a part of the team that took part in 2018 ICC Women’s World Twenty20.
Stats & Figures
Sohail has played 10 ODI games so far. In those games, she has scored 119 runs at an average of almost 15 and a strike rate of over 60. She also picked up 1 wicket, and has conceded runs at an economy rate of just a notch above 5 runs per over. She has also played 20 T20Is thus far for Pakistan.
In those matches, she has scored 294 runs at an average of over 15, and a strike rate of almost run-a-ball. Here as well, she has also picked up a single wicket. Her economy rate in T20Is is under 7 runs per over. Her highest score is 43.