Cape Town: Pakistan left-armer Muneeba Ali scored her first century of the Women’s T20 World Cup as she scored 102 runs against Ireland in a 70-run win over Ireland at Newlands in Cape Town on Wednesday.
The left-handed opening batsman and wicketkeeper said the encouragement of veteran Nida Dar during the century partnership helped him reach the milestone.
“He always had a message for me to keep going and score big,” Muneeba said.
Pakistan scored 165 runs for 5 wickets after being put into bat.
Ireland were bowled out for 95 runs, with left-arm spinner Naashra Sindhu claiming a career-best 18 runs.
The margin of victory gave a big boost to Pakistan’s net run rate and ended their hopes of reaching the semi-finals despite losing to India in their opening match on Sunday.
The diminutive Muneeba had not previously scored a half-century in 44 T20I matches, although he scored an ODI century against the same opposition in Lahore last November.
Muneeba and Dar (33) put on 101 runs in the third wicket partnership. Muneeba faced 68 balls and hit 14 fours.
Ireland beat Pakistan 2-1 in the T20I series in Pakistan in November but were knocked out in the match between the two teams who had lost their opening World Cup matches.
Ireland captain Laura Delaney said that we are disappointed with our performance. “In the beginning, we gave them too much width and it was hard to get it back.”
Pakistan captain Bisma Maruf praised what she described as a “clinical” performance. “We got ten wickets, so that’s good. But I still think we can be better in the next match.
Pakistan’s remaining matches will be against West Indies in Paarl on Sunday and England at Newlands on Tuesday.
Muneeba’s century was the first by any Pakistani player in T20 Women’s Internationals.
Ireland lost openers Amy Hunter and Gabby Lewis in the first five overs. Orla Prendergast scored 31 off 21 balls and Eimear Richardson scored 28 off 17 balls. But Ireland never threatened to approach Pakistan’s total.
Sindhu dismissed both the leading scorers and proved to be the main destroyer of Ireland’s batting. Pakistan suffered an injury scare when big batsman Ayesha Naseem suffered a hamstring strain and had to leave the field after chasing the ball to the boundary.
