Pakistan women register early vicorty against Sri Lanka in T20 WC

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SHARJAH: Pakistan Women’s Cricket Team on Thursday thrashed the Asian Cup Champions, Sri Lanks by 31 runs, as they failed to chase the 117-run target in the second match of the Women’s T20 World Cup at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.

Batting first Fatima Sana-led side posted 116 in the first innings and then bowling superbly to restrict Sri Lanka to 85/9.

Apart from opener Nilakshika Silva and Vishmi Gunaratne — they scored 22 off 25 and 20 off 34 respectively — of Sri Lanka, the rest of the batters failed to leave an impressive mark with their individual scores.

After Sana had picked up the crucial scalp of Athapaththu, Omaima Sohail joined in with two big wickets, cleaning up both Harshitha Samarawickrama (7 from 10) and Hasini Perera (8 from 10) to leave Sri Lanka in big trouble on 35/3 with the required rate climbing.

For Green Shirts, Sadia Iqbal returned the best figures with 3/17, while Nashra Sandhu went for 2/15 from her four overs.

During the first inning, Pakistan’s new captain Fatima Sana winning the toss opted to bat first in Sharjah.

Sri Lanka with a strong start removed both openers through the impressive Sugandika Kumari, who had both Gull Feroza (2 from 4) and Muneeba Ali (11 from 14) caught behind to restrict Pakistan in the powerplay.

And a middle-order recovery was unable to have a huge impact as Chamari Athapaththu removed Sidra Amin (12 from 10), before Omaima Sohail (18 from 19) and Nida Dar (23 from 22) were dismissed by Kavisha Dilhari and Udeshika Prabodhani respectively.

Wickets continued to tumble, but Pakistan skipper Sana did manage to boost her side to a three-figure total, slamming 30 runs off just 20 balls as she produced a sparkling cameo that set up a match-winning total of 116, with the final wicket falling to the last ball of the 20 overs.

For Sri Lanka, Athapaththu, Kumari and Udeshika Prabodhani claimed three wickets each, while Kavisha Dilhari took one scalp.