Pakistani women’s cricket team captain Bismah Maroof has said that their upcoming marquee clash against India Women in the ICC Women’s World Cup 2022 in New Zealand, is a huge opportunity to inspire many young girls to take up the game of cricket seriously.

The ICC Women’s World Cup 2022 will be played in New Zealand from March 4- April 3 across six cities and India Women and Pakistan Women will face off on March 6 at Tauranga.

 “Pakistan vs India is indeed a great stage for any player to establish her credentials, but at the end of the day, it is a cricket match that has to be won by executing the basics right and keeping thing simple," Maroof told PTI Bhasha.

“This match is a great opportunity to inspire millions of girls in Pakistan and India to take up this sport as a profession. It is the biggest rivalry and attracts innumerable eyeballs. I hope girls in the two countries will watch this match and will be inspired to take up the game,” she added.

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The 30-yeard-old, who is making a comeback after motherhood, praised the Indian team, which will be captained by Mithali Raj, but said that she is confident that the Pakistan team will beat them.

“The Indian team is a good unit and has done well recently. They also have had some very good youngsters coming in of late. Our aim is to make it to the semi-finals, something which we have never done before. I strongly believe that this side has all the ingredients to achieve that,” she said from Queenstown, New Zealand.

Maroof has played 108 ODIs and an equal number of T20 matches and has scored 2602 and 2225 runs respectively.

She also said that being the captain, she will try to lead by example: "Being the senior player and the captain of the side you have to inspire your team and lead by example. If you are not doing the right things, you cannot demand them from girls. I have a very clear vision with this team that we need to be in top four."

(PTI inputs)