New Zealand eliminated Pakistan from the T20 World Cup after the Green Shirts faced a major setback by 54 runs in the final Group A match of the ICC Women's T20 World Cup at Dubai International Stadium on Monday.
The match ended in a disappointing blow for Pakistan as they had restricted the Kiwis on 110 runs but went on to lose the game by 54 runs.
The innings came to an end with the Pakistani women scoring 56 runs with all wickets down within 11.4 overs.
Earlier, New Zealand made 110/6 in the first innings of the final group stage of the tournament against Pakistan.
Batting first, the Black Caps’ Suzie Bates made 28 off 29 after smashing three boundaries as an opening batter.
Aiming for a half-century, Bates was dismissed when Nashra Sandhu got her out with the fifth ball of the eighth over, courtesy of a catch by Nida Dar.
The dismissal brought Amelia Kerr to the strike, however, she wasn’t able to stand for long, ended up making nine runs off 17 balls.
Alongside Bates, Georgia Pimmer didn’t score much, making 17 runs after hitting two fours.
Moreover, the Black Caps’ skipper Sophie Devine was caught by Pakistan’s captain Fatima Sana during the over of Sadia Iqbal, after she scored 19 runs off 25 balls.
Contributing the most, Brooke Halliday made 22 runs after hitting two shots towards the boundaries.
Halliday aiming to fetch the delivery, the ball spins well past the inside edge and Muneeba took of the bails and hit the stumps.
The sixth wicket was caught by Fatima when Maddy Green made nine off seven.
Standing till the end, Isabella Gaze scored five runs off four balls.
The Pakistan side bagged six wickets, with Sadia Iqbal, Nida Dar, and Omaima Sohail dismissed one wicket each, while Nashra Sandhu solely took three wickets each.
From the get go, things were hard for the Fatima Sana-led side as six of their wickets had fallen within the 10 overs, including veteran Dar.
Further disappointment for Pakistan arose as only two of their batters managed a double-figure score — opener Muneeba Ali (15 off 11) and their skipper (21 off 23).
Four other batters failed to score a single run as well as opening batter Aliya Riaz.
Amelia Kerr of New Zealand turned out to be the side's highest wicket-taker with three wickets followed by Eden Carson's two-wicket haul.
Rosemary Mair, Lea Tahuhu and Fran Jones took one scalp each against the Green Shirts.
Meanwhile, with Pakistan facing a defeat today (Monday), India have also been ruled out of the tournament, however, New Zealand have qualified for the semi-finals.
Pakistan Playing XI:
Muneeba Ali, Sidra Amin, Nida Dar, Sadaf Shamas, Aliya Riaz, Fatima Sana (captain), Iram Javed, Nashra Sandhu, Sadia Iqbal, Omaima Sohail, and Syeda Aroob Shah.
New Zealand Playing XI:
Suzie Bates, Georgia Plimmer, Amelia Kerr, Sophie Devin (captain), Brooke Halliday, Maddy Green, Isabella Gaze, Rosemary Mair, Lea Tahuhu, Eden Carson, and Fran Jonas.
