Omaima Sohail’s maiden five-wicket haul led Pakistan to a five-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the 21st fixture of the ACC Women’s Asia Cup at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium (SICS) on Tuesday afternoon.
This was Pakistan’s fifth win from six outings in the tournament. The win also confirms Pakistan finished second on the points table with 10 points. They will now take on Sri Lanka – who finished the table on third position in the second semi-final, which will take place on Thursday, 13 October. The match will be broadcast live on PTV Sports. The toss will take place at 1200 PKT and first ball will be bowled at 1230 PKT.
The first semi-final will be played between India and Thailand on the same day in the morning.
Earlier, in today’s encounter, the toss was won by Sri Lanka and opted to bat first, after the toss was delayed and match begun after an hour from scheduled time due to rain and wet outfield.
The right-arm off-spinner Omaima – who had taken seven wickets from 36 T20Is before today’s match was introduced in the bowling by the captain as a fifth bowler and came into bowl in the eighth over of the innings. She got the wicket in her first over, getting Nilakshi de Silva for naught. In her next two overs, she bagged two wickets each in an over and ended up with match figures of 4-0-13-5.
The spin twin of Nida Dar and Tuba Hasan shared three wickets between them, Sri Lanka were dismissed for 112 in the 19th over. For Sri Lanka, their captain Chamari Athapaththu top-scored with a 26-ball 41, which included nine fours.
In reply, the opening pair of Muneeba Ali and Sidra Amin provided a 28-run start in 4.1 overs. After the departure of Sidra for run-a-ball 13 which included two fours, Pakistan batters continue to return back to the hut as Pakistan at one point were struggling at 51 for four in 9.2 overs. Nida was joined by Aliya Riaz and the pair added a crucial 45-run partnership for the fifth wicket.
After the departure of Aliya (20, 26b, three fours), Ayesha Naseem joined Nida in the middle and helped Pakistan achieved the target on the penultimate ball of the 19th over. The right-handed batter Ayesha scored an unbeaten 16 off five balls, which included two sixes struck in the 19th over to finish the match. Nida returned undefeated on 26 off 28, hitting one four, and knitted 17 runs for the sixth wicket with Ayesha.
Scores in brief:
Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by five wickets
Sri Lanka 112 all out, 18.5 overs (Chamari Athapaththu 41, Oshadi Ranasinghe 26; Omaima Sohail 5-13)
Pakistan 113-5, 18.5 overs (Nida Dar 26 not out, Aliya Riaz 20, Ayesha Naseem 16 not out; Kavisha Dilhari 2-16)
Player of the match – Omaima Sohail (Pakistan)
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