Dubai. On the basis of the brilliant bowling of left-arm spinner Nashra Sandhu, Pakistan entered the semi-finals by defeating Hong Kong by 72 runs in the Group A match of the ACC Women’s T20 Asia Cup on Monday. Pakistan will now face Sri Lanka in the second semi-final on September 11.
Batting first, Pakistan scored 143 runs for eight wickets in 20 overs. Shawal Zulfikar played an important inning of 47 runs in 35 balls with the help of seven fours. Ayesha Zafar scored 26 runs in 19 balls, while captain Fatima Sana remained unbeaten on 24 runs in 24 balls. Hong Kong’s Joyleen Kaur took four wickets.
The Hong Kong team, which came to chase the target, could not stand the spin of Nashra Sandhu and was all out for 71 runs. Nashra took six wickets for just seven runs in four overs and was named player of the match.
This is Nashra’s first six-wicket haul in T20 International cricket. Her figures of 4-0-7-6 also became the best bowling performance by a Pakistan women cricketer in T20 Internationals. He surpassed Omaima Sohail’s record of 5/13 made against Sri Lanka in 2022. Pakistan finished second in Group A with two wins from three matches and four points.