Pakistan secured the tournament’s first-ever ten-wicket victory. Gull Feroza and Muneeba Ali’s second straight century stand helped Pakistan reach the semi-finals of the Women’s Asia Cup 2024. Pakistan secured the tournament’s first-ever ten-wicket victory. Besides this, opener Theertha Satish’s hit 40. And the spinners Nashra Sandhu, Sadia Iqbal, and Tuba Hassan claimed two wickets each to limit UAE to a modest 103.
Pakistan’s openers took only 14.1 overs to reach the target. Their NRR increased from +0.497 to 1.158. Pakistan should move to the knockout stage unless Nepal pulls off a big upset against India later in the evening. UAE skipper Esha Oza continued her hot streak with a first-ball boundary. But the openers’ high dot-ball consumption remained a source of concern.
Pakistan vs. UAE: Steady Scoring Rate
Pakistan extended their bid for the semi-finals with a dominant 10-wicket win against UAE in the important Group A match of the ongoing Women’s Asia Cup 2024 in Dambulla. Gull Feroza’s consecutive half-centuries helped Pakistan a lot.
Except for Sadia Iqbal’s two overs, UAE successfully found a boundary in every over of the match. But the opening pair also played a massive 25 dot balls. Pakistan would have happily taken that, despite no early breakthroughs. UAE managed to score 6 RPO in this session despite not scoring many boundaries. However, losing wickets at frequent intervals did not assist their case.
Nashra Sandhu struck in her first over. She dismissed the UAE captain who was looking to break away. Sandhu followed up by returning Rinitha Ranjith. Skipper Nida Dar held back until the 12th over. However, her first ball of the game resulted in a wicket as she trapped Kavisha Egodage LBW. Leggie Tuba Hassan, like her captain, took a wicket immediately away, depriving the UAE opener a half-century by ten runs. The slog-overs assault never materialized, and wickets continued to fall slowly. Sadia Iqbal returned both set batters in her final two overs, finishing with an amazing 2-11.
Meanwhile, new batter Samaira Dharnidharka just avoided a run-out when a deep throw ricocheted off her bat and onto the stumps, but holed out the following ball to give Tuba her second of the day. A couple of singles in the penultimate over boosted the UAE’s score into the triple digits, but 103 would not be enough to challenge Pakistan’s batting.
Feroza’s Confident Performance
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Luck favored Pakistan’s openers abundantly. Feroza was dropped the first ball by ‘keeper Theertha and made UAE pay with effective sweeps and consistent boundaries behind the square. Fellow opener Mubeena Ali was more of a silent partner in the Powerplay, and she miraculously survived a stumping from Heena Hotchandani due to no fault of Theertha this time.
Following various angle replays, the TV umpire bizarrely judged it not out, despite Mubeena’s feet being outside the crease as the bails were blasted off. Feroza‘s batting demonstrated her confidence after scoring a fifty in the previous game, as she spared no bowler. She scored her second consecutive fifty with a four-to-deep backward point off 46 deliveries. After losing her wicket against Nepal just as Pakistan was getting near to the finish line, the opener made amends this time and stayed to the end, striking 62 not out off 55 balls. Mubeena, who played the second fiddle with 30-ball 37 no-outs, scored the winning runs on the first ball of the 15th over to seal the deal.
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