Dambulla, Jul 23 (IANS): Pakistan Women's completed a dominating ten-wicket victory over the United Arab Emirates (UAE) side to proceed closer to the semifinals of the Women’s Asia Cup at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium.
This was the first-ever ten-wicket victory for any team in the history of the Women’s Asia Cup.
The Pakistani spinners took full advantage of the conditions in the subcontinent and turned the game away from the UAE batters in the first innings of the game taking seven of the eight wickets that fell. Despite a valiant 40-run knock by opening batter Theertha Satish, the wicketkeeper-batter was heavily let down by her teammates with the second-highest scorer being skipper Esha Oza who scored 16 runs.
Sadia Iqbal, Nashra Sandhu and Tuba Hassan all contributed with two wickets each to their name and restricted their Middle Eastern opponents to just 103 runs setting up a comfortable chase.
Pakistan-W opening batters Gull Feroza and Muneeba Ali once again did not put up a foot wrong as the opening pair took their partnership to cross the 100-run milestone for a second consecutive game. Feroza scored the grunt of the runs with 62* and was supported well by Ali 37* to claim the ten-wicket victory.
Pakistan has virtually qualified for the knockout stages of the tournament. Their progression will only be confirmed after the India-W vs Nepal-W game late in the evening on Tuesday, however, it is highly unlikely that they miss out given their superior run rate compared to the Nepal side.
"I talked to the batting unit regarding batting intent. Against India, we didn't execute the plans well. But we got down about the plans with batting. Sometimes it's a plan, sometimes it's about giving the others chances [on being introduced late into the attack]," said Pakistan-W captain Nida Dar in the post-game interview.
"Every game is a learning experience. When you have such a short tournament, it's important you put your best foot [forward]... Assessing the pitch, 140 or 150 would have been a great score. We created the opportunities; it was about grabbing them. It's a great experience. Our team has grown quite a bit. We've only grown," added UAE captain Oza.
Brief score:
United Arab Emirates 103/8 in 20 overs (Theertha Satish 40, Sadia Iqbal 2-11, Tuba Hassan 2-17) lost to Pakistan 107/0 in 14.1 overs (Gull Feroza 62 not out, Muneeba Ali 37 not out) by 10 wickets.