Pakistan women team fast bowler’s quiet farewell to the green jersey
By Asher Butt
There are some careers that end with fireworks and farewell tours. Then there are others that close with the quiet dignity of a chapter simply turning. Kainat Imtiaz’s retirement from international cricket belongs firmly to the second kind. After 13 years in the green jersey, the Karachi-born right-arm medium-fast bowler has stepped away from the international arena, leaving behind 19 ODIs, 21 T20Is, two Asian Games gold medals, and a legacy that stretches far beyond the numbers.
Her story began long before the floodlights and the packed stands. In February 2007, a teenage Kainat turned out for the Karachi Schools Under-17 side in the PCB National Schools Championship. There were almost no girls’ academies then. She trained with boys, ran endless laps because her father insisted, and learned the game in an environment where every girl who picked up a bat or ball was still a rarity. Her earliest inspiration, she has often recalled, came when she watched Indian fast bowler Jhulan Goswami at the 2005 Asia Cup. Something about that tall, powerful action stayed with her. She decided she wanted to do the same.
Her parents, particularly her father, became the unyielding force behind that dream. He would take her to the ground every morning, push her through fitness sessions, and later fill the family car with other girls so they too could play. In those days, gathering enough players for a match often meant going door to door and pleading with families. Kainat and her teammates were the trendsetters of a generation that refused to wait for perfect conditions. They simply played.
By 2010 she was already wearing the Pakistan colours. She made her T20I debut against South Africa in Potchefstroom as the country’s 22nd T20I cap, and later earned her ODI cap (No. 64) against Ireland in Fatullah. The numbers that followed were modest by modern standards — ten ODI wickets with a best of 3/49, eight T20I wickets, and a disciplined economy of 5.82 in the shorter format — yet they only tell part of the story. She was part of the Pakistan sides that claimed gold at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou and again in Incheon in 2014. She played in the 2017 ICC Women’s World Cup and represented the country at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. Her final ODI came against Australia at the Gabba in January 2023; her last T20I was against Thailand in Sylhet the previous October.
What made Kainat’s journey special was never just the wickets or the medals. It was the quiet consistency of showing up in an era when women’s cricket in Pakistan still fought for recognition, facilities, and basic respect. She has spoken openly about the pressure of being a junior in a senior-dominated dressing room, about the constant need to prove oneself, and about the deep sense of responsibility that came with wearing the national colours. Playing for Pakistan, she once said, was never only her dream — it was her parents’ dream too.
Cricket, after all, runs in the family. Her mother, Saleema Imtiaz, became Pakistan’s first woman umpire to be appointed to the ICC International Development Panel in 2024 and has already stood in nine women’s ODIs and 69 women’s T20Is. The same household that produced a national team fast bowler also produced a pioneering international umpire. That shared commitment to the game is rare and quietly remarkable.
In recent years Kainat has already begun writing the next chapter. She has worked as a broadcaster and commentator, bringing the same energy and insight she once showed with the ball. More recently she stepped into match officiating, serving as a match referee at the PCB National Women’s Under-19 T20 Tournament in August and September. The transition feels natural. Like her mother, she is choosing to remain close to the game in a different capacity, helping shape the environment for the next generation rather than walking away from it entirely.
There is a particular grace in how she has handled the end of her playing career. She has spoken about the timing of transition — the importance of leaving while still connected, of moving into media and officiating before the window closed. Motherhood also played its part. Once her daughter arrived, the fierce focus that once belonged entirely to cricket found a new centre. She has said she could have continued for several more years, even reinventing herself as a batting all-rounder, but she chose presence over longevity. That choice says as much about her character as any spell she bowled.
Looking back, Kainat Imtiaz’s career sits at a quiet crossroads in Pakistan women’s cricket. She belongs to the generation that played when facilities were scarce, when girls still trained with boys out of necessity, and when every international appearance felt hard-won. She leaves the game at a time when more opportunities exist, when contracts are more secure, and when young players can dream with greater confidence. The path she and her teammates helped clear is wider now.
There will be no grand farewell series, no emotional lap of honour under lights. Instead there is a simple announcement, a new role as match referee, and the knowledge that a chapter has closed with dignity. For those who watched her bowl with that distinctive action, who remember the Asian Games golds, or who simply followed the quiet rise of a Karachi girl who refused to wait for permission, the memory remains. Kainat Imtiaz did not just play for Pakistan. She helped make it possible for others to do the same.
The green jersey will miss her. The game, however, has not lost her. In the commentary box, in the referee’s chair, and in the example she continues to set, the next chapter is already underway.
