COLOMBO: Pakistan Women made a good start to their tour of Sri Lanka, kicking things off with a comfortable 69-run win over the hosts in the first ODI in Dambulla after bundling them out for 181 in 45.2 overs. The win counts points for the ICC Women’s Championship 2017-2020.
Chasing 251, Sri Lanka lost their first wicket with opener Hasini Perera dismissed off the very second ball of the innings. Nipuni Hansika and Chamari Athapaththu then set up a 46-run second-wicket partnership before the former was removed by Sana Mir for 18. Athapaththu found support briefly from Dilani Manodara but a moment of madness saw the Sri Lankan skipper throwing her wicket away to Nida Dar. The hosts lost their next 5 wickets for 40 runs. But Shashikala Siriwardene (44) wasn’t in any mood to give up as she hung around frustrating the visitors before Pakistan skipper Bismah Maroof scythed through the tail as Sri Lanka faded away.
Earlier, Pakistan were off to a shaky start as they lost both openers - Nahida Khan and Muneeba Ali - inside the first five overs. With 19 for 2 on the scoreboard, Javeria Khan steadied the ship and with wickets tumbling at the other end in the middle overs, Javeria stepped the pedal and smashed an unbeaten ton, single-handedly propelling Pakistan to a challenging total. Pakistan added 77 off the last 10 overs; Thanks to contributions from Nida Dar (34), Sana Mir (27) and Natalia Pervaiz (21) which lifted them to 250 for 7.
Brief scores: Pakistan Women 250/6 in 50 overs (Javeria Khan 113, Nida Dar 34; Shashikala Siriwardene 2/40, Chamari Athapaththu 2/48) beat Sri Lankan Women 181/10 in 45.2 overs ( Chamari Athapaththu 46, Shashikala Siriwardene 44) by 69 runs.
