Pakistan women vs South Africa women: Nida Dar and Iram Javed get visitors back on track
The ongoing T20I series between South Africa women and Pakistan women began in a similar fashion as the ODI series between the two sides. Pakistan won the first T20 comfortably by restricting South Africa to 119 and chasing down 120 with 12 balls to spare.
With the bowlers doing the job brilliantly, a fine knock of 53 off 48 from captain Bismah Maroof and a blistering fifty from Nida Dar gave the visitors an emphatic win. However, South Africa proved their mettle as they struck back with a crushing win in the second encounter of the series.
In that match, Pakistan women posted a total of 128 runs with another big contribution from Maroof. This time the captain was well-supported by Umaima Sohail who managed 23 runs off 28 balls, along with Javeria Rauf with a knock of 16 runs off 21 balls and Aliya Riaz who adding 13 runs off 14 balls to the total.
But the hosts ended up chasing the target with the loss of just two wickets. The noteworthy performers were Lizelle Lee and Marizanne Kapp, both of whom scored 56.
With the series level, the third ODI promised to be a super-interesting game. South Africa women posted a gutsy total of 138 runs in 20 overs, with Tazmin Brits scoring the major chunk of runs, producing a solid knock of 70 off 61 balls.
Brits was well-supported by Nadine de Klerk who added 36 runs off 35 balls and the captain Sune Luus who scored 28 runs off just 18 balls. The hunger to lead the series was obvious from the way the South African women batted, and they managed to put the hosts under pressure with a challenging chase.
The Pakistani innings had a torrid start as three wickets fell with just three runs on the board. The side lost both openers to Shabnim Ismail; she forced Javeria Khan and Umaima Sohail to play wrong shots and sent them back to the pavilion earlier than expected.
The hopes of chasing down the target diminished sharply when the backbone of Pakistan's batting, Bismah Maroof, was clean bowled by Moseline Daniels with a fine yorker.
At such a stage, Nida Dar and Iram Javed stepped up to build the vital partnership that was the need of the hour. What was good to witness was the way these two players negotiated the bowling with an aggressive attitude; they did not hold back from playing their shots, and kept the scoreboard ticking.
While Dar has previously rescued the team on several occasions both with bat and ball, Javed proved her worth in this match as she ended up with her career best score of 55 runs off 45 balls. Her knock featured highly courageous and blistering shots all over the ground which were like a breath of fresh air.
In addition, the in-form all-rounder Aliya Riaz also played a fine knock of 30 runs off just 24 balls, with a scintillating display of boundaries. Just when it looked like Pakistan would finish the chase in no time, South Africa got rid of three dangerous looking players to take the game to the very last over - with 6 runs remaining to win.
Kainat Imtiaz and Sana Mir comfortably helped their team cruise through to the win with two balls to spare.
Overall, it was a great game of cricket to say the least. It was refreshing to see the improvisation in batting and the ability to handle pressure by both teams, which is a much-needed factor in women’s cricket.