Pakistan Women beat South Africa by 7 wickets in 1st T20I
PRETORIA (92 News) – Pakistan Women team on Wednesday defeated the South African by seven wickets in the first of their three-T20I series in Pretoria.
Pakistani team chased the 119-run target set by the Proteas in 20 overs. Veteran all-rounder Nida Dar's contributions with both the bat and ball helped Pakistan Women brushed aside their South African.
Dar, 32, took two wickets for 30 runs in the South African innings, which had its top order once again shattered by the excellent Sana Mir (14-3).
The Proteas eventually finished with 119 for the loss of seven wickets in their allotted 20 overs courtesy some late resurgence by Chloe Tyron, who contributed 43 runs off just 31 balls.
Pakistan Women's run chase suffered a setback in the very first over when Javeria Rauf was sent back to the pavilion without disturbing the scoreboard.
When her fellow opener Umaima Sohail (10) also departed at the score of 29, South Africa Women had their best chance to make things interesting. However, Dar and captain Bismah Maroof's 53-run innings each made sure that their side drew first blood in the series.
Dar was dismissed just a few runs away from the victory but Maroof, the skipper, finished unbeaten. The former was handed the player-of-the-match award for her two-way performance.
Sana Mir becomes world’s most successful ODI spinner
Earlier, during the South Africa series, Pakistan off-spinner Sana Mir achieved the feat of most successful women ODI’s spinner in the world after dismissing South Africa’s Sune Luus in the third ODI of ICC Women’s Championship on Sunday.It was Mir’s 14th ODI wicket in her 118th appearance for Pakistan.
Currently, the former Pakistan skipper holds the third position in the ICC bowler list and as per the news reports, it is likely that she will improve her rankings which will be released on Monday.
Prior to this, Mir had also become the first Pakistani bowler to head the ICC rankings in October of 2018.
Sana Mir is presently the third ranked ICC bowler, but is expected to make an upward movement when the new rankings are released on Monday, May 13. In October last year, she had become the first Pakistan bowler to top the ICC rankings.
Sana Mir made her ODI debut, eight days shy of her 20th birthday against Sri Lanka at the National Stadium in the ACC Women’s Asia Cup match. She remained wicket-less, but scored 23 runs with the bat.
