Sadaf Shamas is the answer, but not the one most fans expected. Pakistan called up a specialist batter, not a keeper, after Najiha Alvi’s knee injury forced her out of the entire tournament. That leaves Muneeba Ali Siddiqui as the only recognised gloveperson left in the fifteen, with no back-up keeper in reserve. The swap says more about Pakistan’s batting depth than any wicketkeeping plan, and it puts real pressure on one player behind the stumps for six straight weeks.
Muneeba Now Stands Alone Behind Stumps
Pakistan Cricket Board has not issued a formal statement naming its first-choice keeper for the tournament, but the squad sheet does the talking. The fifteen released on August 24 lists only one player with a wk tag next to her name, Muneeba Ali Siddiqui. That is a change from the original squad, which carried two recognised glove options before injury forced a rethink.
Najiha Alvi’s issue is a posterior injury to her left knee, with scans pointing to a possible sprain. Her rehabilitation began immediately and is expected to run up to four weeks, a timeline that rules her out of the entire Women’s Asia Cup rather than just the opening rounds. Pakistan’s campaign begins against Thailand on September 1, and Alvi will not feature in a single match of it.
The original fifteen carried two players with a wk tag, Muneeba and Najiha. Losing one without a like-for-like keeper changes the balance of the squad for a six-week tournament.
Asia Cup 2026 Najiha Alvi Wicketkeeper Replacement
Her direct replacement is Sadaf Shamas, a right-handed top-order batter who made her T20I debut back in January 2023 against Australia at North Sydney Oval. She has played twelve WT20Is since then, though her most recent international appearance in the format came in October 2024 against New Zealand. Every source describing her role, from the board to independent statisticians, lists the same thing: batter.
Nobody has recorded her keeping wicket at any level, which makes this a like-for-like swap in the batting order rather than a genuine gloves solution. Wikipedia, ESPNcricinfo and the board’s own release all describe her the same way, as a batter and nothing else. Her specific WT20I batting average has not turned up in the records checked either.
Sadaf Shamas Brings Runs, Not Gloves
What makes the call-up easy to defend is form, not keeping credentials. Shamas scored 289 runs across three ODIs against Zimbabwe in May, including a maiden century in the format. That is the kind of returns a struggling top order wants walking back into the squad, even without a big WT20I average on record to point to yet. Selectors clearly weighed recent scores over specialist gloves cover, and that says plenty about how highly they rate her bat over any backup wicketkeeping plan.
Compared with the rest of the keeper conversation, the gap is obvious once the candidates sit side by side.
| Player | T20I Status | Keeping Experience | WT20I Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| Muneeba Ali Siddiqui | Active, leading the top order | Yes, main keeper since 2018 with 22 stumpings and 29 catches | 20.66 |
| Najiha Alvi | Ruled out with a knee injury | Yes, second designated keeper in the original squad | 4.75 |
| Sadaf Shamas | Active, injury replacement call-up | No recorded keeping experience | 6.10 |
| Gull Feroza | Active, regular top-order opener | Partial, keeping background in domestic cricket | 17.17 |
Backup Options Before the Asia Cup Opener
If Muneeba picks up even a minor knock, Pakistan’s options thin out fast. Gull Feroza has kept wicket in domestic setups and has worn the gloves for the side in the past, but she carries no wk tag in this squad listing and would be an emergency fix rather than a planned one. Every other name in the fifteen is a specialist batter or bowler with no recorded keeping background at all. That includes captain Fatima Sana and senior batters like Ayesha Zafar, none of whom have ever kept wicket at any level.
That leaves Pakistan walking into a six-week tournament with a single recognised gloveperson and a batting reinforcement standing by instead of a second keeper. The Najiha Alvi Asia Cup 2026 wicketkeeper replacement question has a clear answer for the top order. It still does not have one for the gloves.