Dynamites would take on Challengers in the 45-over final of the Paki-stan Cup Women’s Cricket Tournament 2022-23 at the State Bank Stadium in Karachi on Sunday.
Both sides met in the final of the one-day tournament on February 20, 2018, when Dynamites overcame Challengers by 190 runs at the Multan Cricket Stadium.
The winners of the final this year would pocket Rs. 1 million along with the silverware while the losing team will end up taking Rs. 500,000. The player of the match would earn Rs. 20,000 and the player of the tournament will get Rs. 50,000.
Before Sunday’s final, both sides had met each other twice in the one-day phase of the tournament. In the first encounter staged on May 27, Dynamites defeated Challengers by eight wickets, while the final-round match of the second phase on June 2 between the two sides ended with Challengers win-ning a thriller by seven runs.
Sidra Amin, the captain of the Dynamites, has been leading from the front with her stellar performances in the competition. She currently tops the batting charts with 231 runs from four matches, including two half-centuries. Her highest score of 95 against Blasters demonstrated her ability to anchor the in-nings and provide stability at the top of the order. Sidra’s form will be crucial for Dynamites as the team will be without their star player Bismah Maroof, who featured in three matches and will not be available for the final due to prior family commit-ments.
Meanwhile, Challengers would be relying on their skipper, Omaima Sohail, and opening batters Javeria Khan and Javeria Rauf, who have been in fine touch throughout the tournament. Javeria Rauf is second on the batting charts with 150 runs from four matches, while Javeria Khan, currently placed third on the batting charts with 133 runs, played a match-winning knock of 83 runs against Dynamites in their previous encounter. Omaima has scored 108 runs from four matches with her 75 helping her side to a five-wicket win over Blasters on Wednesday. In that match, Javeria Rauf was declared player of the match for her 82-run innings.—APP
