Unbeaten opening stand confirms Pakistan’s place in super 6:
Pakistan crushed Zimbabwe by 10 wickets to qualify for the super-6 stage in the ongoing U19 women’s T20 world cup. Eyman Fatima and Shawaal Zulfiqar’s unbeaten hundred runs secured the game after Areesha Noor spat fire with the new ball for green shirts.
Started with the brilliant Areesha Noor and finished off by the superb opening combination of Eyman Fatima and Shawaal Zulfiqar, Pakistan inflicted a dominating victory over Zimbabwe. Areesha Noor’s excellent new ball spell was a thing of beauty. Zimbabwe then fought back to reach 97, but it proved nowhere near enough as Pakistan romped home with more than 9 overs to spare.
After a heavy defeat against England, Pakistan was expected to come hard against the rather inexperienced Zimbabwean side. After deciding to bat first, Zimbabwe’s struggle with the bat continued, as they failed to produce any big partnership and ended up scoring 97 runs in their 20 overs. Kelis Ndhlovu was the only batter for Zimbabwe that crossed the 20 runs mark, and she scored 42 runs which helped Zimbabwe to get closer to 100 run target. From Pakistan, Areesha Noor, Laiba Nasir, and Anosha Nasir bowled well. Slow left-arm spinner Anosha Nasir grabbed two wickets and one wicket each for Laiba Nasir and Areesha Noor came.
Eyman Fatima came out with all guns blazing in the second half. She started the counterattack on Zimbabwean bowlers from over number one while Shawaal Zulfiqar played the anchor role. Later, Shawaal joined the party with two stunning fours. Zimbabwean bowlers had no answers to the aggressive intent of both Pakistani openers, who comprehensively chased the total in 10.5 overs.
The star batter Eyman Fatima completed her second half-century of this tournament with 10 crispy fours and two magnificent sixes. She scored an unbeaten 62 off just 35 balls at a strike rate of 177.14. Shawaal Zulfiqar, on the other end, played a sensible and responsible knock of 32 runs with a strike rate of 106 to get her team over the line in the 11th over.
With their dominating victory, Pakistan joined England, New Zealand, Rwanda, Ireland, and West Indies in Group 2 of the super-6 stage. On Monday, January 23, Pakistan will play their first Super-6 game against Ireland.
