Zainab Abbas has earned her stripes in the cricket broadcasting world as a top-notch anchor by her tenacity, dedication and hard work, becoming the face of Pakistan cricket.
She is the face of the nation’s Pakistan Super League T20 tournament where she recently spoke to gsport Editor, Kass Naidoo, about her rise to international acclaim.
As one of fifty most influential women in Pakistan, Abbas was excited at how her nation integrated women into the HBL PSL.
“It’s a great initiative by the board.
“I have to give credit to them. There are people out there who are sitting in that board that believe in diversity, they believe in giving equal opportunities to women.
“We need to live in a time where we need to go beyond genders.” – Pakistan cricket anchor, Zainab Abbas
“We need to live in a time where we need to go beyond genders. It’s about how good you are at what you do.”
Her rapid rise has taken her five years to achieve, as Abbas plays her part in raising the profile of women in sport.
“It’s been five years since I’ve been doing this but it seems like I’ve been doing this forever and one of the reasons is because I’ve done so much in five years that I do feel like this was my calling.
“I was always into sports and I grew up in a household of five boys, so it was not a normal Pakistani girly environment.
“We lived together with all the cousins and they were bullies, they were proper bullies and that toughened me up.
“I was always around them, spending time with them and that’s how I was drawn to sports and cricket in particular.”
Abbas found her passion and began her journey by blogging about a sport that she had fallen in love with.
“I didn’t have any experience in front of the camera, but my mother pushed me.” – Abbas on her journey to becoming a top-notch cricket broadcaster
“I started blogging and it was just an ESPN blog that I used to do, and I was a random user who just blogged. I was literally writing and thinking that nobody was going to read it.
“But it used to help me contribute towards my passion and that’s how it initially started.
“Then, I got this opportunity to work with a news channel. They were doing auditions and to be honest I was not too pushed to go and do the audition because I thought they would never choose me.
“I didn’t have any experience in front of the camera, but my mother pushed me. My mother has always been my hero and inspiration and she said to me that I should just go and give it my best shot and see what happens.”
Today, Abbas has worked for the International Cricket Council and has paved the way for women cricket broacasters in Pakistan.
She continues to talk about her special moments working with the ICC and she shares advice to young girls who are looking to follow in her footsteps. Listen to the podcast in the slider above.
Photo 1 Caption: Zainab Abbas has earned her stripes in the cricket broadcasting world as a top-notch anchor by her tenacity, dedication and hard work, becoming the face of Pakistan cricket. Photo: Kass Naidoo
Photo 2 Caption: Zainab Abbas’ rapid rise has taken her five years to achieve, proving that she is putting her all into raising the profile of women in sport. Photo: Kass Naidoo
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