Sharmeen Khan, who is widely credited for having women’s cricket in Pakistan officially recognised, has died aged 46. News outlets in Pakistan reported that she died of pneumonia.
Sharmeen played two Tests – Pakistan’s women’s team has only ever played three – and 26 ODIs between 1997 and 2002, opening the bowling with her right-arm pace and batting in the lower-middle order. Sharmeen, along with her elder sister Shaiza, played in Pakistan women’s first ODI, in Christchurch in 1997.
A year earlier, the two sisters had helped secure ICC membership for Pakistan women, and then formed the team and got them sponsored by their father’s carpet company. In bringing women’s cricket to Pakistan, Sharmeen and Shaiza had faced threats of personal harm and legal action but stood firm in their resolve.
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