Pakistan women mustered their guts to win a low-scoring third T20I off the last ball to clean sweep 3-0 against Sri Lanka here on Saturday.
Chasing a modest target of 108, a measured captain’s innings from Bismah Maroof (15 not out) ensured Pakistan’s victory.
Earlier, Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat and got off to a great start with a 69-run partnership with openers Chamari Athapaththu and Hasini Perera.
Anam Amin and Diana Baig started with the new ball and kept the batsmen under control, but not for long as Athapaththu went on to hit Anam for a six in the third over and Perara also hit his first boundary at mid-on in the next over. deposited. , The batsmen continued to rotate the strike and hit occasional boundaries to end the powerplay 31/0.
In the ninth over, Athapaththu and Perera completed their opening partnership of 50 runs, ensuring a strong end for Sri Lanka. However, the first wicket was not far off, and a slight misunderstanding between the batsmen saw Pera run out for 24, ending his solid opening stand of 69 runs.
One brought two for Pakistan as Athapaththu (37) lost his wicket the very next ball. Sri Lanka then lost another wicket due to another mix-up. Niklasi de Silva’s poor call from the striker resulted in a run out, forcing Oshadi Ranasinghe for a duck back to the pavilion.
Sri Lanka were bowled out for three for 70 and needed to rebuild the innings, but Harshita Madavi was also run out for 1, leaving the visitors struggling at 75/4. Tuba Hasan added to Sri Lanka’s troubles by dismissing Neelakshi de Silva for 9 runs.
He continued to slip ahead with two more wickets in the next over; First Kainat Imtiaz sent Kavisha Dilhari back to the pavilion for 2, and then Ama Kanchana was run out on 2, as Sri Lanka were reduced to 93/7. Anoushka Sanjeevani and Sugandhika Kumari were however able to keep the ship steady till the end of the innings. Sri Lanka reached the figures of three with two fours and ended their innings at 107/8.
In reply, Pakistan opener Iram Javed chased down two boundaries in the opening over and looked immediately aggressive. But her aggressive approach didn’t last long as Sugandhika ripped off her stumps when Iram (10) tried to smash the ball over fine leg.
Omaima Sohail and Muniba Ali took no chances after losing one wicket for 16 runs and slowly started building the innings. But Omaima soon lost his patience and attempted to break the chains by reaching out to attack Ranasinghe, only to miss and was stumped at 4.
Muniba, who had anchored the innings, also lost her wicket after contributing a comfortable 25 runs. Captain Bismah Mahroof sent other batsmen ahead of him, and Alia Riaz and Ayesha Naseem were now in charge of taking Pakistan across the finish line.
Ayesha was aggressive in her approach as she hit a six off the first ball of Ranasinghe’s third over and then attempted another slap, but this time she was caught at the boundary which closed her innings for 10. Aaliya, who saw her in the middle, tried to hit a boundary off Ranasinghe, but was caught for 17 runs by the long-on fielder.
Pakistan were still 34 runs away when Maroof was dismissed midway. He began to build a partnership with Nida, but the Sri Lankan spinners continued to take wickets, and Dilhari sent Nida back to the pavilion at 14. Maroof however was determined to get the hosts over the line, and he batted all the way with Kainaat Imtiaz. Till the end to help Pakistan win the last ball of the match.
Brief Scores: Sri Lanka Women 107/8 in 20 overs (Hasini Perera 24, Athapaththu 37) lost to Pakistan Women 108/6 in 20 overs (Muniba Ali 25; Oshadi Ranasinghe 3-18, Kavisha Dilhari 2-28) by 4 wickets.
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