KARACHI: Pakistan’s captain Bismah Maroof held her nerves calm to steer the side to a nail-biting victory over Sri Lanka in the third T20I as the Green Shirts completed a resounding 3-0 whitewash, here on Saturday.
Set to chase a paltry 108, Pakistan had to bat till the last ball of the match to seal the victory.
In the run chase, the home side also had a dismal start with the bat as they lost wickets at a regular interval which halted the flow of runs.
The Green Shirts lost half of the side for a mere 74 runs 16th over as Aliya Riaz walked back to the pavilion after scoring 17. Whereas, Nida Dar made her way back in the 18th over after scoring a run-a-ball 14.
Bismah alongside the returning Kainat Imtiaz put on a gritty and unbeaten 27-run partnership for the seventh wicket and propelled the side to complete the whitewash.
Bismah remained unbeaten with run-a-ball 15 while Kainat scored four off seven deliveries.
For Sri Lanka, Oshadi Ranasinghe starred with the ball with three wickets while Kashiva Dilhari bagged two. Sugandika Kumari, on the other hand, made one scalp.
Winning the toss, Sri Lankan captain Chamari Athapaththu opted to bat first and she alongside her opening partner Hasini Perera provided a solid start by putting on a magnificent 69-run opening partnership.
The touring side appeared to be in control as both the openers have found themselves going until the 12th over, which proved out to trump the touring side’s fortune as both the openers departed in two consecutive balls.
Following their departure, the side began to lose wickets at an alarming rate and could not recover from the collapse as they lost seven wickets for 14 runs to slip from 69-0 to 83-7.
The wicket-keeper batter Anushka Sanjeewani and Sugandika Kumari bolstered the side in the end with some valuable contributions. Anuska remained unbeaten with her valuable 14 while Kumari scored 10.
The Sri Lankan captain Athapaththu remained the top-scorer for her side with 37 off 38 balls including two boundaries and as many sixes, while Perera chipped in with her important 24.
Tuba Hassan, Nida, and Kainat bagged one wicket apiece, whereas, the touring side lost five wickets in run-outs.
READ: Tsitsipas edged past Kolar in the second round of the French Open
