Sana and Umm-e-Hani Deliver Bronze for Pakistan

Nisshin: Pakistan’s bronze-medal playoff against Bangladesh had drifted towards familiar trouble. At 67 for 5 in the 12th over, with the innings stalled and Bangladesh’s spinners dictating terms, the prospect of a competitive total appeared remote.

Then Fatima Sana walked out and changed the contest entirely.

Her 45 from 30 balls, struck at 150.00, lifted Pakistan to 145 for 8, a total that had seemed beyond them when five batters had fallen inside twelve overs. Umm-e-Hani then dismantled Bangladesh’s top and middle order with 3 for 10 from her four overs, and the chase never recovered. Pakistan secured bronze by 31 runs.

Feroza’s Platform, Then a Collapse

Pakistan won the toss and chose to bat, and Gull Feroza provided a bright start. She and Shawaal Zulfiqar added 46 in 41 balls before the partnership ended in the seventh over, Feroza falling for 31 from 23 deliveries. Zulfiqar laboured to 17 off 27 before becoming the third wicket to fall, and the innings began to unravel.

Shorna Akter claimed two wickets as Pakistan slipped to 67 for 5, with Nahida Akter and Moni also among the wickets. The control Bangladesh had established through the middle overs was pronounced, and the dot-ball pressure was mounting.

Sana Turns the Innings

Sana’s arrival at the crease altered the tempo immediately. She found a willing partner in Aliya Riaz, who scored 25 from 22 balls, and the pair added 67 in just 43 balls for the sixth wicket. Between them they struck five sixes, wresting the initiative from Bangladesh in a passage of play that reframed the match.

Bangladesh’s dot-ball count told its own story. They bowled 48 dot balls to Pakistan in the first half of the innings, but Sana’s strike rate of 150.00 ensured those dot balls did not strangle the total as they might have. A target that had looked likely to settle around 100 instead climbed towards 150.

Umm-e-Hani’s Triple Strike

Bangladesh’s chase never found traction. Umm-e-Hani struck in the third over, again in the fifth, and once more in the 16th, removing three of Bangladesh’s top and middle-order batters. By the time her spell was complete, Bangladesh were 77 for 5 with fewer than five overs remaining, the required rate having climbed beyond reach.

Sharmin Akhter offered the only meaningful resistance, carrying her bat for an unbeaten 46 from 45 balls. But she found no support, and Pakistan’s bowlers maintained their discipline through the closing overs. Bangladesh finished at 114 for 7.

The dot-ball concern that has characterised Bangladesh’s T20 batting was marginally improved from their semi-final defeat to India, where they played out 61 dot balls. Here the figure was 43, but it proved insufficient against an opponent who capitalised so decisively on their own opportunities.

For Pakistan, the bronze medal represents a recovery from the scare they endured against Thailand in the quarter-final stage, when Sana again proved the difference. On this occasion, her contribution with the bat and Umm-e-Hani’s control with the ball proved a winning combination.

Brief scores: Pakistan 145 for 8 in 20 overs (Sana 45, Feroza 31, Shorna 2-16, Nahida 2-21, Moni 2-27) beat Bangladesh 114 for 7 in 20 overs (Sharmin 46*, Umm-e-Hani 3-10) by 31 runs.

                                               

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