Wary of the Afridi fiasco, Pakistan Women's Captain hails support back home

Mindful of the furor caused by Shahid Afridi’s controversial statement regarding Pakistani supporters, national women’s team skipper Sana Mir decided to play it safe. DNA India reported the 30-year old speaking her mind on the emotional fans, back home.

The all-rounder could not resist a laugh when she was asked about the difference between playing in India and Pakistan. She enthused, “We really love playing here in India but we also love playing back home. In fact, we get love at home more and love playing back home more because we don't get a chance to play at home.”

However, Mir was effusive on the affection that Pakistanis receive on Indian soil. She asserted, “But, we are looking forward to playing in India. We had a good crowd in Chennai and we enjoyed playing in front of them. We have been looked after well. We are enjoying our stay here. The security is not too high and we are liking it.”

Sana also revealed that she closely follows Bollywood and adores Indian culture. Ranked number 9 in the women’s ODI rankings, she said, “I follow Indian movies. I like listening to Indian music and I am fond of Indian sarees.

Opening up on her admiration for Amitabh Bachan and Aamir Khan, Mir labeled MS Dhoni as her inspiration. She confirmed, “I like Dhoni. He is an inspiration for me. Among Pakistani cricketers I like Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Hafeez and Younis Khan.”

On the same day where both men’s and women’s teams of India and Pakistan clash against each other, Sana hoped that the atmosphere will be electric for the women’s match as well.

She believed, “The intensity is going to be little more and I am hoping for a bigger crowd presence. Every game in a World Cup is important, especially in the women's format because you are directly reduced to four teams from 10. It's going to be influential in deciding how far we go in the World Cup. There will be pressure on both the teams.”

On the other hand, Indian women’s captain Mithali Raj was pleased with her team’s performance in the opening match against Bangladesh. Raj implied, “We are confident and we will try and continue to do the good work in the next game. We are playing Pakistan and there is a lot of hype being created around this match, more so because the men are playing Pakistan on the same day.”

Playing down the hype surrounding the contest, she felt, “Since we are playing at home and it's a World Cup game so there is so much hype. But for us it's another game, They are another opponent whom we would want to beat. That way if you look at it, it will reduce the unnecessary pressure.”

While the women’s afternoon fixture is at the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi, attention will soon shift to the Ede Gardens in Kolkata when the men’s teams take the field during evening.