Pakistan Secures Women’s Asia Cup 2024 Semi Final Spot with Convincing Victory over UAE
Pakistan advances to the Women’s Asia Cup 2024 semi-finals with Gull Feroza’s unbeaten 62* and a dominant century opening stand with Muneeba Ali.
Their century-long collaboration ended the UAE’s campaign without a single victory but guaranteed Pakistan a place in the semi-finals.
UAE 103 for 8 (Theertha 40, Iqbal 2-11, Tuba 2-17, Sandhu 2-22) lost to Pakistan 107 for 0 (Feroza 62*, Muneeba 37*) by ten wickets.
Through their second consecutive century stand, Gull Feroza and Muneeba Ali helped Pakistan book their place in the Women’s Asia Cup 2024 semifinals, marking the first-ever ten-wicket victory in the history of the competition. Seven of the eight wickets that fell to Pakistan’s spinners laid the groundwork for the UAE to be thrashed ten wickets to none in Dambulla.
The best bowler was Sadia Iqbal, who finished 2 for 11 with a 2.75 economy. With two-fors, Nashra Sandhu and Tuba Hassan contributed. The former removed the first two wickets after the UAE’s openers were removed from the powerplay, while the latter removed Theertha Satish.
UAE struggled to reach 103 for 8, but with 35 balls remaining, Muneeba and Feroza chased down the target. UAE thus finished the tournament with three losses.
Feroza won the Player-of-the-Match title in two straight matches, supporting the 57 against Nepal with a flawless 62 against the United Arab Emirates. Samaira Dharnidharka’s edged cut missed the first slip and the wicketkeeper, who initially swung in the opposite direction, and she might have been out on the first ball.
With another streaky boundary in the next over from Kavisha Egodage, her tense start persisted. However, that happened after she centered a lap sweep. Feroza was off and running after that.
In the fourth over, Muneeba’s breakthrough came when UAE skipper Esha Oza dropped a catch off the leading edge against Heena Hotchandani. Most notably, in the next over, she nearly did a complete split while trying to slip back into the crease after charging down and getting beaten in the flight by Hotchandani. Despite the appearance that she had not returned, the third umpire declared it not out after a few replays.
Pakistan finished the powerplay with an asking rate of less than 4.5, at 42 for 0.
Vaishnave Mahesh’s opening over, which produced seven extras (three byes and four wides), relieved some of the pressure even more. Feroza took advantage of the width to pick up a boundary and a two. Pakistan began to race towards victory as Muneeba hit two boundaries off the front foot off offspinner Suraksha Kotte.
After Hotchandani hit a short, wide ball, Feroza punished him, taking him to fifty for 46 balls. From then on, the two played one-on-one until Muneeba finished the game with a streaky boundary.
UAE was put in after Nida Dar had previously won the toss. Oza, who would have followed suit, had a boundary to start the game but was unable to get going. She batted in the first two overs, was twice dismissed, and was only able to score three more runs. Theertha scored a few powerplay boundaries, but similarly to Oza, absorbed dots as the UAE scored 24 runs in the first six frames.
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Oza thought Sandhu’s debut would be her big break, but she missed three shots, and Aliya Riaz, sprinting back from mid-off, took the fourth, a swipe across the line. In her subsequent over, Sandhu made a wonderful catch once more as Sidra Amin raced to the right from long on and dismissed Rinitha Rajith with a low, diving catch.
After Theertha risked her arm and scored eight runs off Sandhu, Dar entered the game. Dar trapped Egodage with her opening ball, but Theertha blasted her for two boundaries in two overs. The run rate then reached five for the first time since the opening over thanks to a couple of twos from Khushi Sharma.
After Sandhu was bowled out, Tuba and Iqbal came on with more vigour, which resulted in a wicket in the 15th, 16th, 17th, and 18th overs. Theertha, who was well-established, began by chopping a pull on her stumps. With a theme that pervaded the entire innings, UAE’s lower order took them beyond 100 runs.
Theertha attempted to sneak a single to point in the eighth over, which was the first time. Riaz not only failed to catch the ball, but she also tripped, allowing the second run to score.
Another quick single to point was made in the following over, and the fielder there unintentionally kicked the ball while attempting to pick it up. After three balls, the recently introduced Egodage struck first, putting the fielder off with a dangerous single to midwicket after he failed to get a direct hit.
The final half of the innings was much more chaotic due to the UAE’s frequent loss of wickets. In the fifteenth over, Khushi made it two runs as the fielder at deep midwicket waited for the ball instead of rushing for it. Dharnidharka just avoided a strange run-out when the long-on toss ricocheted off her torso and onto the stumps.
Three more opportunities to score were lost in the final three overs, one of which was on the last ball of the innings when the bowler’s throw was wide. However, Pakistan‘s catching was spot on, and they will be hoping for more of that in order to secure a position in the knockout stages.
