2024-10-04 12:35:28
Sharjah: Pakistan defeated Sri Lanka by 31 runs on Thursday due to the all-round game of captain Fatima Sana and excellent performance of the spinners. With this, Pakistan made a great start to its campaign in the Women’s T20 World Cup. Batting first, Pakistan team was out for 116 runs in 20 overs. But its spinners made this score like a mountain for Sri Lanka whose team could only score 85 runs for nine wickets.Captain Fatima played an important role in the victory
If Pakistan team could reach triple digits, then the credit for it goes to captain Fatima Sana who played an inning of 30 runs in 20 balls. Fatima, who bowls at medium pace, then took two wickets for 10 runs. Left arm spinner Sadia Iqbal was their most successful bowler. He took three wickets for 17 runs in four overs. He also got good support from left-arm spinner Nashra Sandhu (two wickets for 15 runs) and off-spinner Amaima Sohail (two wickets for 17 runs).
Sri Lankan spinners also performed strongly
Earlier, Sri Lankan spinners also performed well in favorable conditions. From her side, left-arm spinner Sugandhika Kumari (3 wickets for 19 runs) batted at the top order, off-spinner Chamari Atapattu (3 wickets for 18 runs) batted in the middle order and medium pace bowler Udeshika Prabodhini (3 wickets for 20 runs) batted at the bottom. Played an important role in sealing the order. Captain Atapattu, however, could not show any talent in batting and returned to the pavilion after scoring only six runs.
Sri Lanka had scored only 26 runs in the powerplay.
Sri Lanka scored 26 runs in the power play and meanwhile also lost the wicket of Harshitha Samarawickrama (07). After bowling her, Amaima Sohail also dismissed the new batsman Hansika Perera (08). The Sri Lankan team was struggling at 44 runs for three wickets after 10 overs. Opener Vispi Gunaratne held one end till the 13th over. But she could not score runs at the expected pace which increased the pressure on the team. He scored 20 runs in 34 balls which included one four. Neelakshi de Silva (22) was the second batsman from Sri Lanka to reach double figures.
Pakistan won the toss and chose to bat
Earlier, after winning the toss and opting to bat, Pakistan team had to struggle from the very beginning against the spin attack of Sri Lanka. They lost the wickets of all three top order batsmen Gul Firozha (02), Muniba Ali (11) and Sidra Amin (12) in the power play itself. Meanwhile, Pakistan scored 32 runs.
Experienced Nida Dar (23) along with Amaima Sohail (18) tried to improve the innings but after the 25-run partnership between them for the fourth wicket was broken, Pakistan’s middle order faltered. In such a situation, Fatima Sana took the responsibility. Despite not getting enough support from the other end, he hit some crisp shots and took Pakistan to a respectable score. Fatima hit three fours and one six in her innings.