PAKW vs SL-W Match Summary:

Pakistan Women 253/2
Sri Lanka Women (50 Overs, T:254) 180/9
PAK Women won by 73 runs

After winning the T20 series against Srilanka, Pakistan Women have also won the 3-match ODI series they are playing at home. In the 2nd ODI played in Karachi, Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat first. The hosts put up a good score of 253. The target was going to be quite a hike for Srilanka and they failed to reach it losing the match by a big margin of 73 runs.

Batting first, Pakistan openers played class cricket that included skill shots. For the first wicket, Muneeba Ali and Sidra Ameen together put up 158 runs in 35 overs. It is the second-highest partnership for Pakistan in Women’s ODI. It was Muneeba who got out first at 56 runs. To replace her, captain Bismah Maroof came to crease, and with her, Sidra continued her beautiful innings. Scoring a prolific 127 off 150 balls, Sidra became the cricketer with a second-highest score for Pakistan Women in ODI. The team with top-order performing its best scored a very good total of 253 for Srilanka to chase. For the tourists, nothing seemed to have worked well with just Ranasinghe and Dilhari succeeding in taking one wicket each.

Chasing a big total of 253. Srilanka did not have a very good start as they lost both of their openers within the first 13 overs at the score of 31. With attempts of Hansima Karunaratne and Prasadani Weerakkody, they reached the 70s but the partnership did not last long as Karunaratne got out soon. As wickets kept on falling at regular intervals, it was difficult for SL to keep the flow of runs going. Harshitha Madavi did try to make some impact but she got run out at 41 and with her, the team lost their hope. For Pakistan, Fatima Sana bowled an incredible spell, taking 4 wickets from 10 overs giving away just 26 runs. Omaima Sohail got 2 wickets too.

Talking about the reason for the loss, Srilanka Captain Chamari Athapaththu said, “We lost it with the ball, the drop catches. Especially Sidra’s. She played well. Kavisha and Nilakshi played well which was a positive. We had a chance to win, had Kavisha and Nilakshi continued, we could have come close. We have young cricketers and hope they do well. We’ll try our best to go well in the next game.”

With the Series win, the Pak captain looked happy as she said “It was a team effort. Sidra’s knock was brilliant. Our bowling has good variety, particularly with spin. The quicks are doing well, we need to win in the field. We have 4 points in the ICC Championship and will look to earn two more in the next game.”

PLAYER OF THE MATCH: Sidra Ameen 123 (150)