Women's Asia Cup: Nashra Sandhu's Six-wicket Haul Helps Pakistan Qualify For Semis

Nashra's Six-for Sends Pakistan to Semis

What a day for Nashra Sandhu at DICS. The left-arm spinner picked up a maiden six-wicket haul in a T20I, and it was the difference as Pakistan Women dumped Hong Kong down the 72-run margin in Group A of the ACC Women's T20 Asia Cup.

The spell that made history

Pakistan batted first and posted a modest 143/8. Shawaal Zulfiqar led the charge with a brisk 47 off 35 balls (7×4), with Ayesha Zafar (26) and captain Fatima Sana (24*) providing useful support. Nothing fancy on the scoreboard, but it was enough.

Nashra then walked in and put Hong Kong to the sword. Wickets tumbled at regular intervals as she finished at 4/76 – the best bowling figures ever by a Pakistan women's cricketer in a T20I, bettering Omaima Sohail's 5/13 from 2022. Hong Kong were bowled out for 71 with six balls to spare. Joyleen Kaur was a lone light for the visitors with 4/19.

Nashra took the Player of the Match award, and from a workload perspective, a controlled, disciplined spell like that is exactly what you want to see from a frontline spinner.

Where things stand

With the win, Pakistan are confirmed semis-bound, finishing 2nd in Group A with 4 pts from 3 matches (they opened vs Thailand, then fell to India on Sunday). They'll face Sri Lanka in Semifinal 2 on Sept 11.

Solid performance all round. On to the semis. 🏏

Source: Cricketnmore