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Zainab Abbas

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Zainab Abbas
زینب عباس
Born (1988-02-14) 14 February 1988 (age 36)
Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan
NationalityPakistani
EducationAston University
University of Warwick (MBA)
Occupations
  • Television host
  • sports presenter
  • commentator
Spouse
Hamza Kardar
​
(m. 2019)​
Parent(s)Nasir Abbas (father)
Andleeb Abbas (mother)

Zainab Abbas (Punjabi, Urdu: زینب عباس; born 14 February 1988) is a Pakistani television host, sports presenter, commentator, and former makeup artist.[1][2][3][4]

Personal life

Zainab Abbas was born in Lahore[4] to domestic cricketer Nasir Abbas and politician Andleeb Abbas.[1][2]She studied at Aston University in Birmingham and then earned an MBA in Marketing and Strategy from the University of Warwick.[3][4][5] She then spent two years working for Dolce & Gabbana at Harrods.

Her father played in the Faisalabad and Hafizabad cricket teams as a bowler[6][7] and went to the same college as Ramiz Raja. On the other hand, her mother is a senior member of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf party, elected to the National Assembly of Pakistan on a reserved seat for women from Punjab,[8] and was appointed as the Federal Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs.[9] She also covered a few cricket events as a journalist, including the 1999 World Cup.

In November 2019, Abbas married Hamza Kardar in Lahore.[10] Hamza is the son of former finance minister and former governor of State Bank of Pakistan, Shahid Hafeez Kardar, himself the son of Abdul Hafeez Kardar, Pakistan cricket team's first captain.[11]

Her younger brother Hussain Abbas Mirza is a fitness trainer, who in February 2023 joined Multan Sultans as their strength and conditioning specialist for the 2023 PSL.[12]

Career

Abbas used to work as a makeup artist with her own studio until 2015,[13] when she successfully auditioned to appear as a guest on a show on Dunya News for the 2015 Cricket World Cup alongside former national team players Saeed Ajmal and Imran Nazir,[2][1] which launched her career as a cricket presenter and commentator.

She then went to England as a correspondent for Dunya News to cover the Pakistan national cricket team on their 2016 tour. There, she appeared as a guest on BBC's Test Match Special.[14][15] Upon her return, she earned a full-time contract to present her own show Cricket Dewangi on Dunya News, which she did from 2016 to 2018. During this time, she also wrote sports pieces for Pakistani independent news outlets Dawn[16] and Dunya News.[3][17]

Abbas has been one of the presenters of the Pakistan Super League from 2016 onwards, as well as for the Abu Dhabi T10.[1][18] She has also worked with TEN Sports, Star Sports, and Sony for a while.[19]

In late 2017, she hosted a web-series talk show titled Sawal Cricket Ka, which had seven episodes.[20][21] From May 2018 to May 2019, she hosted 14 episodes of the web-series talk show Voice of Cricket on Cricingif. In both these shows, she interviewed various Pakistani cricketers.[22][23][24][25]

In May 2019, Abbas became the first woman sports reporter and commentator to cover the ICC 2019 World Cup from Pakistan.[1][4][26][27]

In July 2021, Abbas made her debut on Sky Sports as part of the broadcasting team for the inaugural season of The Hundred, thus becoming the first Pakistani female presenter to do so.[28][29]

Controversy

In 2023, Abbas travelled to India to cover the Men's Cricket World Cup. She had expressed her excitement in being able to travel and explore the country. It was later reported she left the country due to security concerns, after controversy arose following old resurfaced anti-India tweets. International Cricket Council stated that she left for personal reasons. Abbas later apologised for the old tweets and stated that "they do not represent my values."[30][31][32][33]

Recognition

In 2019, Abbas was awarded the Sports TV Host of the Year award at the first Pakistan Sports Awards.[34] In July 2020, she was included in the 100 most influential list of people in Asia/UK/EU by the New York Press Agency.[35] In October 2020, she was invited to the TedxLahoreWomen event to give a talk.[36][37]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "From a makeup artist to ICC presenter: Zainab Abbas narrates her cricket journey". www.thenews.com.pk.
  2. ^ a b c "Abbtakk.tv: Latest News Breaking Pakistan, World, Live Videos". Abb Takk News.
  3. ^ a b c "An Inspirational Evening with Hissan-Ur-Rehman and Zainab Abbas". LUMS. 9 May 2017. Archived from the original on 12 October 2019. Retrieved 12 October 2019.
  4. ^ a b c d "Zainab Abbas". CricTracker. Archived from the original on 12 October 2019. Retrieved 12 October 2019.
  5. ^ www.webspider.pk, Web Spider (pvt) Ltd. "Interview with Zainab Abbas — Award-winning Sports Journalist". www.hilal.gov.pk. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  6. ^ "Pakistan Cricket - 'our cricket' website". www.pcboard.com.pk. Archived from the original on 12 October 2019. Retrieved 12 October 2019.
  7. ^ "Nasir Abbas | Pakistan Cricket Team | Official Cricket Profiles | PCB". www.pcb.com.pk. 17 May 2023.
  8. ^ Reporter, The Newspaper's Staff (12 August 2018). "List of MNAs elected on reserved seats for women, minorities". DAWN.COM.
  9. ^ "15 MNAs appointed as parliamentary secretaries | Pakistan Today". www.pakistantoday.com.pk.
  10. ^ "Cricket commentator Zainab Abbas has tied the knot". images.dawn.com. 25 November 2019.
  11. ^ Web Desk (26 November 2019), "Pakistani cricket commentator ties knot with Hamza Kardar", DailyTimes. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
  12. ^ "Zainab's younger brother joins PSL 8". Geo Super. 7 February 2023.
  13. ^ "From a makeup artist to ICC presenter: Zainab Abbas narrates her cricket journey". www.thenews.com.pk. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  14. ^ "BBC Radio 5 live - Test Match Special, TMS:The journalist panel". BBC. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  15. ^ Our journalist panel Derek... - BBC Test Match Special, retrieved 18 January 2022
  16. ^ "News stories for Zainab Abbas - DAWN.COM". www.dawn.com.
  17. ^ "Zainab Abbas, Author at Dunya Blog". Dunya Blog.
  18. ^ "Zainab Abbas: 'The Hundred will mix youth and energy. I'm happy to be part of it'". the Guardian. 25 April 2021. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  19. ^ "Zainab Abbas: The Pakistani Wonder Woman Who's Making Us Proud". FUCHSIA. 12 June 2019. Archived from the original on 29 September 2020. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  20. ^ "'Brighto Sawal Cricket Ka!' - Pakistan's first-ever web series releases today". The Nation. 19 October 2017.
  21. ^ "Cricket Videos - Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Official Website". www.pcb.com.pk.
  22. ^ "www.cricingif.com". Cricingif. 14 August 2018. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  23. ^ "www.cricingif.com". Cricingif. 13 February 2019. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  24. ^ "Sana Mir reveals the name of her favourite cricketers". CricketTimes.com. 26 October 2018. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  25. ^ "Playing against India will be a dream come true moment for Imam-ul-Haq". CricTracker. 13 August 2018. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  26. ^ "Top of the game: Pakistani women inspire others to take up sports". Arab News PK. 5 September 2019. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  27. ^ "For the love of cricket - Zainab Abbas of Pakistan". gulfnews.com. 6 February 2022. Retrieved 20 February 2022.
  28. ^ "Zainab Abbas says she is 'honoured' to debut with Sky Sports". www.geo.tv. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  29. ^ Borkakoty, Rituraj. "WKND Special: Inspiring journey of Pakistani sports presenter". Khaleej Times. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  30. ^ "Pakistan Presenter Zainab Abbas Breaks Silence After Leaving India Over Social Media Storm". 13 October 2023.
  31. ^ Livemint (9 October 2023). "'Who gave her visa..,': Social media after Zainab Abbas leaves India". mint. Retrieved 6 February 2024.
  32. ^ "Zainab Abbas leaves India as her alleged old posts mocking religious sentiments resurface". MensXP. 9 October 2023. Retrieved 6 February 2024.
  33. ^ "Zainab Abbas: Pakistan reporter who left India sorry for old posts". 13 October 2023.
  34. ^ "First-ever Pakistan Sports Awards acknowledge achievements of athletes". www.geo.tv. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  35. ^ "RFAK, Zainab Abbas and more among Asia's 100 Most Influential". The Express Tribune. 17 July 2020. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  36. ^ "Zainab Abbas – TEDxLahore". tedxlahore.com. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  37. ^ "Many felt that a woman cannot talk about sports: Zainab Abbas". The Express Tribune. 9 December 2020. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
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