Javeria Khan urges PCB to facilitate training for female cricketers alongside PSL stars

“PCB should assign girls with various PSL franchises. It would be great for us to have such training opportunities for girls with PSL teams as all the teams have top players,” Javeria told Geo TV. "We can learn by training with the likes of AB de Villiers, Luke Ronchi or Darren Sammy.”

Her suggestion comes at a time when Pakistan are eyeing considerable improvement in their international fortunes. They finished last in the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2017, failing to win a single game. They also failed to advance past the group stage in last year’s T20 World Cup, winning just one out of four games. However, they are fifth on the ICC Women's Championship table now, ahead of New Zealand, West Indies and Sri Lanka.

While their players haven't been able to break into foreign T20 leagues, Javeria herself had a chance to experience the Women's Cricket Super League when she was chosen to lead the ICC Women's Global Development Squad on a tour of England.

Javeria, who has represented Pakistan in 98 ODIs and 91 T20Is, insisted that women’s cricket needs backing at the grass roots, with schools and colleges being an important stepping stone for budding cricketers to find an ideal platform early in their career.

“Colleges and schools must play a role to help PCB increase the players’ pool by making girls cricket teams," she said. "Women's cricket can be promoted when everyone puts an effort.”

The 31-year-old, who briefly captained the national side, has been part of the topmost level for over a decade, and is currently their leading run-getter in one-dayers, and only behind Bismah Mahroof in Pakistan’s T20I run charts. She still believes that she needs to enhance her match-winning abilities, especially in a big-ticket global event such as the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup.

“I want to be a match-winner in every game I play," she said. "My target is to play an important role in making Pakistan victorious at the Women’s World Cup. I want to be among the top players of the world when I leave the game.”