At 22, Fatima Sana is among the youngest to lead in a Women’s T20 World Cup. It didn’t quite seem like that during the opening day of the tournament on Thursday. Fatima showed immense maturity and led from the front with both bat and ball to get Pakistan off to a winning start with a dominating 31-run victory against Sri Lanka in Sharjah. She became the youngest captain after Australia’s Meg Lanning to lead her side to a victory in a Women’s World Cup match.
It appeared like a tactical blunder when Fatima demoted herself to No.7 in the batting order despite being a No.5 for most matches in the lead-up to the tournament but the right-hander more than made up for it with her breezy knock of 30 off 20 balls that included three fours and a six.
Fatima’s knock helped Pakistan to 116 batting first before they took advantage of the conditions to stifle Sri Lanka’s chase.
With the ball too, she set the tone by picking the most important wicket of Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu (6) in the third over of the chase.
Pakistan lost their most experienced pacer, Diana Baig, in the first over when she pulled a calf muscle while running in to bowl the second ball of the Sri Lankan innings. Baig needed help from her teammates to limp off the field but the agonising sight did not deter captain Faitma, who took the challenge of bowling with the new ball and did a fine job.
At a time when Pakistan’s men’s cricket was tumultuous due to the surprising resignation of limited-overs skipper Babar Azam, Fatima’s all-around performance and leadership in the Women’s World Cup acted as a balm on the fans’ pain.
Pakistan spinners take over from Fatima Sana
Later, Omaima Sohail (2/17) and Nashra Sandhu (2/15) took the pace off the ball and suffocated Sri Lanka’s batting, making it difficult to find the boundary.
In the end, they managed 84 for nine in reply, with Pakistan up and running in Pool A, where Australia, India and New Zealand all lie in wait.
Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat first, but lost Gull Feroza in the second over for two as she was caught behind off the bowling of Sugandika Kumari (3/19).
Muneeba Ali tried to attack, even notching the first six of the tournament, but she was Kumari’s second victim for 11.
Chamari Athapaththu then got in on the act, removing Sidra Amin (12) with a return catch as they slipped to 32 for three.
Nida Dar and Omaima (18) tried to rebuild but their 25-run partnership was broken by Kavisha Dilhari, with Pakistan 57 for four at the halfway stage.
The wickets continued to fall, with Nida next to go for 23, closely followed by Tuba Hassan and Aliya Riaz, who went on successive balls from Athapaththu (3/18).
She could not complete the hat-trick, but when Diana Baig became Kumari’s third victim, Pakistan were in a world of trouble at 84 for eight.
Skipper Fatima, stepped up though, smashing a quickfire 30 before she fell in the final over as Pakistan were bowled out for 116 off the final ball of their 20 overs.
In reply, Pakistan made the big breakthrough early when Athapaththu was dismissed by Fatima in the third over, chipping to extra cover as she departed for just six.
Harshitha Samarawickrama followed not long after, clean bowled by Omaima when she tried to play across the line, removed for seven.
Another absolute peach from Omaima got Hasini Perera (8), leaving Sri Lanka 35 for three with the required rate approaching seven-an-over.
Nashra went into the attack and took advantage as Sri Lanka tried to up the run-rate, removing Dilhari (3) and the set Vishmi Gunaratne (20) in consecutive overs.
From there, Sri Lanka were never able to get back in the hunt for the victory, Sadia Iqbal removed Nilakshika Silva for 22, one of her three victims as she kept the pressure on.
Fittingly, Fatima finished the job, taking a wicket in the final over, ending with figures of two for 10 in a comprehensive victory.