Pakistan women need 143 to win the first Twenty 20 International (T20I) against Ireland on Wednesday to continue their winning momentum in the lead up to the World Cup next month.
Skipper Fatima Sana was the pick of the bowlers for the Green Shirts at the Clontarf Cricket Club Ground in Dublin, getting four wickets for 26 as the team look to kickstart a packed international calendar — featuring two white-ball World Cups — with a winning performance after bowling the Irish side out for 142.
Sadia Iqbal, the number one-ranked T20I bowler in the world, started her spell by conceding a boundary to Ireland opener Amy Hunter.
Skipper Fatima struck in just her second over, bowling an inswinger to dislodge her opposite number Gaby Lewis’s middle stump.
The Irish side then recovered to score 48-1 at the end of the powerplay — courtesy five boundaries from opener Hunter.
Left-arm spinner Nashra Sandhu came into the attack to bowl the seventh over, conceding just five in her first over.
She got the breakthrough in her next over, removing Hunter for 37 when the Irish batter was bowled round her legs while attempting to sweep, and the ball crashed into her stumps
At the halfway mark of the innings, the Irish side were meandering along at 70-2 before Orla Prendergast and left-handed Leah Paul got together at the crease to try to up the momentum.
However, it wasn’t meant to be as Rameen Shamim got the next wicket for the Green Shirts when Prendergast tried to sweep her — only to top-edge the ball to a gleefully waiting Fatima at short fine leg. The Karachi-born spinner broke the partnership just before the Irish innings got going again.
Paul was the next to fall for Ireland, top edging a shot off Sadia to be caught at long-on after scoring a brisk 28 off 19. The Pakistani skipper then returned for the 17th over to claim two more Irish wickets.
Ireland continued to lose regular wickets, with Fatima bowling Jane Maguire with a yorker in the penultimate over of the innings.
Pacer Diana Baig got her first wicket in the 20th over of the Irish innings, with the Irish team getting bowled out for 142 after losing their last two batters to runouts.
This is the fifth bilateral T20I series between the two sides. The record so far stands even, with both Pakistan and Ireland having won two series each. However, the overall head-to-head is tilted heavily in Pakistan’s favour, with the visitors winning 15 of the 19 encounters since their first meeting in Dublin in 2009.
The series follows a productive month of preparation for Pakistan, who held a 17-day skills camp and a five-day pre-tour camp at the Hanif Mohammad High Performance Centre in Karachi before arriving in Dublin on August 3.
Ireland, meanwhile, entered the series high on confidence after a dominant showing against Zimbabwe women last month, where they swept both the T20I and ODI series at home.
Last week at the pre-series press conference, responding to a question by Dawn.com at the National Stadium in Karachi, Fatima said, “Despite the difference in conditions, batters are confident and since our Qualifiers went well, we are going into the series with confidence.
“We are looking to continue that momentum and looking forward to doing well, along with developing the T20I side as well.”
She also spoke about how she tries to contribute to the team in any domain, whether batting, bowling or fielding, adding, “I’ve been trying to improve my batting and play a role in the team’s victory in any aspect that I can.”
Top-order batter Muneeba Ali, speaking on the team’s batting performance, said: “Despite the difference in formats between the Irish tour and the World Cup, we are looking to focus on T20Is and work on 50-over format game alongside as well.”
The Southpaw opener added, “We have identified where we were lacking in the Qualifiers tournament, and have tried to overcome that [during the training camp] and build upon the positives from that tournament.”
Before participating in the 50-over ICC Women’s World Cup in September, Pakistan will play one series consisting of three matches against South Africa in Lahore from Sept 16 to 22.
The World Cup is scheduled to be held in India from Sept 30 to Nov 2, but Pakistan will play their matches of the global event in Sri Lanka under the hybrid model, according to which neither India nor Pakistan will visit each other’s venues due to political strains between the nuclear-armed neighbours.
Pakistan’s highly anticipated clash with arch-rivals India is scheduled for October 5, followed by encounters against defending champions Australia on October 8 and 2017 champions England on October 15.
The national side will then face New Zealand (October 18), South Africa (October 21), and co-hosts Sri Lanka (October 24) to conclude their round-robin stage.
