Sana Mir posts cryptic message on Twitter after failing to make World T20 squad

The absence of Sana Mir's name from the Pakistan Women's squad for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup was assumed to be for her own reasons. 

However, women's chief selector Urooj Mumtaz, in her press conference, had later confirmed that Sana had been axed owing to her.

"Sana has been a phenomenal servant of Pakistan cricket while being an inspiration to many girls out there. Unfortunately, her recent performances in the T20 format were not on her side," the selector said.

Captain Bismah Maroof, meanwhile, had taken a more diplomatic approach, saying that dropping Sana was not her choice.

"It was a tough decision to leave out Sana Mir. I wanted to have her in the squad over which I, along with the selection committee, had deep deliberations. We had to decide between her and the emerging players who had been impressing on all the stages," Bismah was quoted as saying.

"I respect and support the decision of the major group and hope she will continue to serve Pakistan women's cricket in future with the same passion and energy."

Following Urooj and co's decision, Sana took to Twitter to take a veiled dig, saying: "Don't blame a clown for acting like a clown. Ask yourself why you keep going to the circus."

It was not clear who "the clown" she referred to was, but the timing of her tweet made it clear that it was Sana's reaction to the development.

As pointed out by ESPN, Sana's numbers have been inferior to other, younger spinner Anam Amin. However, Sana can also bat a little (averages 14 in T20Is) while her experience and leadership could be valuable at the highest stage — arguments that put the equation back in balance.