“I’ve never seen this in 15 years of playing,” stated the ex-skipper of Pakistan Women, Sana Mir, during the final over of Match 19 of the Women’s T20 World Cup between Pakistan and Sri Lanka. It was not for nothing that she made a remark as audacious as it was while commentating during the final over of the first innings between Pakistan and New Zealand Women. After all, Pakistan had dropped not one, not two, but three catches in one over as New Zealand crept to a total of 110 after their 20-over quota.
The first of the couple to be dropped within the powerplay was courtesy wicketkeeper, Muneeba Ali. An attempted reverse sweep saw the ball getting hit by the face of the bat. However, that opportunity was a sharp one. The second one followed in the subsequent over, with Nashra Sandhu shelling one at deep midwicket. Trying to take it reverse-cupped, she never got enough of her hands behind the ball.
An over after Pakistan finally got their first breakthrough of the game, Omaima Sohail grassed one off her bowling despite getting two hands to it. The next opportunity for a catch came Pakistan’s way in the 16th over. This one was the most astonishing up until then, because Sidra Amin, one of Pakistan Women’s most reliable outfielders, let an easy chance go abegging. The very next over saw Sohail, again, letting go of an opportunity at long-on.
The final over which was spoken of earlier just summed up Pakistan’s outing on the field. A total of eight opportunities were spilled during the entirety of the innings. Had even some of them been gobbled, Pakistan would have been in with a realistic chance of getting the Kiwis cleaned up at a cheap score.
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Sana the lone warrior with the bat as Pakistan get shot out on 56
Captain Fatima Sana, who had earlier in the piece broken the record for taking the most number of catches for Pakistan in women’s cricket in the 20-over format in a single innings (four), fought till the end but to no avail, as none other than Muneeba could even get themselves into double-digits.
Despite not having the best of days with the ball, Sana, who was coming off an emotional past few days with the unfortunate passing away of her father, came into the mix with her side three-down at a score of just 21. She went about her business but could never find any support from the other end. The six batters coming after her could only accrue 11 runs amongst themselves, with nine of them coming via Nida Dar. In an attempt to up the ante, she was dismissed for 21, ending up as her team’s highest-scorer in the game.
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