Muneeba Ali battled through oppressive heat to hit a half-century before Pakistan\u2019s disciplined spinners secured a 35-run victory over Thailand in their T20 Asia Cup opener on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The result eliminated Thailand from the competition after their second defeat in three matches, while Pakistan overcame another below-par batting display to make a winning start.<\/p>\n
Opting to bat after winning the toss, Pakistan posted 119-9 on a slow, low pitch, despite captain Fatima Sana hoping her side would surpass 150.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a low-scoring match, so we had to bowl in the same area as much as possible,\u201d Tuba Hasan said in an interview with PCB<\/p>\n
\u201cThere wasn\u2019t consistent bounce from the pitch, so I bowled accordingly,\u201d Nashra Sandhu said. \u201cI didn\u2019t have any particular plan. I kept things simple, and the pitch was helping us a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thailand struggled throughout their chase and finished 84-8 as Pakistan\u2019s spinners kept the pressure on with tight lines and attacking field placements.<\/p>\n
Thipatcha Putthawong struck in the second over with a double-wicket maiden, removing Shawaal Zulfiqar and Gull Feroza, to become the leading wicket-taker in women\u2019s T20 internationals. Putthawong now has 173 wickets in the format at an average of 9.17, while she finished the match with 2-21.<\/p>\n
Pakistan stumbled to 32-3 in the powerplay, with Ayesha Zafar falling to an outstanding catch by Natthakan Chantham at midwicket off Phannita Maya.<\/p>\n
Muneeba then steadied the innings with Sadaf Shamas, adding 54 for the fourth wicket. Muneeba, who appeared to struggle with the heat and repeatedly stopped to catch her breath, remained at the crease until the 17th over before being stumped by Suleeporn Laomi. She struck four boundaries in her 54 off 52 balls to register her fourth T20I half-century.<\/p>\n
Shamas contributed a valuable 20 before Laomi struck twice in the 13th over, removing her and then dismissing Sana for a second-ball duck with a superb diving return catch. Laomi finished with 3-14 from four overs. Pakistan\u2019s total was boosted by Tuba Hasan, who smashed a six and a four in her unbeaten 12 off four balls.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy plan was also simple: to bowl in the right areas and target the stumps,\u201d Hasan said.<\/p>\n
Thailand\u2019s chase never gained momentum.<\/p>\n
Sadia Iqbal ripped through the top order in the second over, dismissing Maya and Nannapat Koncharoenkai in another double-wicket maiden. Sandhu then squeezed Thailand further after the powerplay, conceding only six runs from her four overs while also removing Chantham.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn pitches like these, it is very important to bowl in the same area. The pitch provides the rest of the assistance,\u201d Sandhu said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn pitches like these, you need to bowl consistently,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Iqbal returned for the final over and claimed another wicket to finish with 3-11.<\/p>\n
Pakistan\u2019s victory came despite their struggles with the bat, although their next challenge against India is likely to offer considerably less room for error.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are preparing for the next match as well. The humidity here is very high, so we have to adapt ourselves accordingly,\u201d Hasan said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore the next match, we need to reduce our mistakes further so that we can perform better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hasan also said she would look to maintain her form while contributing with the bat.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will try to maintain my consistency and concede fewer runs in the next match,\u201d she said. \u201cI really enjoy my batting and try to contribute with the bat as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sandhu believes a modest total can still prove competitive on such surfaces.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we score 140 against a good opponent on a pitch like this, we have spinners who can make the conditions work in our favour,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Muneeba Ali battled through oppressive heat to hit a half-century before Pakistan\u2019s disciplined spinners secured a 35-run victory over Thailand in their T20 Asia Cup opener on Tuesday. The result eliminated Thailand from the competition after their second defeat in three matches, while Pakistan overcame another below-par batting display to make a winning start. Opting …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5633,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5628"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5628\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5634,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5628\/revisions\/5634"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}