COLOMBO: After recording a clean-sweep in the ODI series, Pakistan women on Wednesday started the Twenty20 International rubber with a nail-biting one-wicket win against their Sri Lankan counterparts in Colombo.

After being put into bat, the Sri Lankan women were restricted by Pakistan to a modest 129-6 off the stipulated overs. Then Pakistan’s in-form batswoman Javeria Khan struck a brisk half-century to steer team to a thrilling victory.

Pakistan’s opening bowlers Diana Baig and Sana Mir justified the decision to bowl first by running through Sri Lanka’s top order. The hosts found themselves reeling at 38-5 before a partnership between Anushka Sanjeewani and Nilakshi de Silva bailed them out of trouble.

Having lost their best batter and captain Chamari Athapaththu cheaply, the onus was on Sanjeewani to carry the batting burden. She did not find an able ally until de Silva walked in at number seven. The pair started the rebuilding process in a steady manner before gathering steam towards the end, a 58-ball 61 from Sanjeewani and the 84-run partnership off just 68 balls gave Sri Lanka a reasonable total.

Pakistan did not get off to the best of starts either, losing their openers inside four overs and the score reading 19. However, the experienced duo of captain Bismah Maroof and Javeria launched a counter-attack to take the momentum away from the hosts. The 60-run association came in quick time and brought the asking rate below run-a-ball.

Sri Lanka fought back by sending Bismah to the hut and picking wickets at regular intervals but Javeria held one end up as Pakistan slipped from 79-2 to 96-5. Sugandika Kumari, who had picked up two wickets, came back to trap Javeria LBW off the penultimate ball of her spell and Mir was run-out, the very next ball.

The match headed towards a nail-biting finish as Sri Lanka needed three wickets while Pakistan still had nine runs to chase, with three overs remaining. The 18th and 19th over yielded only five runs and the visitors lost a wicket as well.

The nerves got to Pakistan’s lower order as they lost another batter through a run-out. With four needed off four, Ghulam Fatima collected a brace and a boundary off the fourth and fifth ball to seal a memorable victory for Pakistan.

Summarised scores:

SRI LANKA 129-6 in 20 (Anushka Sanjeewani 61, Nilakshi de Silva 35; Diana Baig 2-18, Sana Mir 2-25); PAKISTAN 133-9 (Javeria Khan 52; Bismah Maroof 42; Sugandika Kumari 3-23).

Published in Dawn, March 29th, 2018