Pakistan’s journey at the women’s U19 T20 World Cup officially ended with a heavy loss to New Zealand at Potchefstroom.
The Kiwis, one of the favourites to lift the cup, flashed their title credentials again during their 103-run win against Pakistan to stretch their unbeaten record to 4 games in the Super-Six Group 2.
New Zealand, batting first, piled on the runs thanks to Emma McLeod (32) and Anna Browning (31), who added 47 runs in 29 balls for the first wicket before Georgia Plimmer (53) continued her side’s domination with the bat.
For Pakistan, Anosha Nasir claimed three wickets for 32 runs, extending her tally of wickets in the tournament to ten in five games which leads the charts for now.
Her efforts were not enough to prevent New Zealand from reaching 178-7 from their 20 overs.
In reply, Pakistan stumbled from the very start after openers Shawaal Zulfiqar and in-form Eyman Fatima were both dismissed for ducks while Warda Yousaf (5) and skipper Syeda Aroob Shah (9) soon joined them in the dugout to leave their side reeling at 17/4 after the powerplay overs.
Laiba Nasir’s run out soon after meant Pakistan had lost half their side for 19 before Areesha Noor (24) and Aliza Khan (11) stitched a partnership of 32 runs for the sixth wicket to restore some pride for their side.
In the end, Pakistan got nowhere near the 179-run target managing just 75/7 in their 20 overs.
The win ends Pakistan’s run at the first-ever U19 Women’s T20 World Cup where they managed to win 3 out of their 5 games over Rwanda, Zimbabwe and Ireland.
