Pakistan women create unwanted record after slow powerplay batting

Pakistan had a really good start to the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 after winning their first game against Sri Lanka. However, their poor performance continued in the encounter against the Australian women after their lack-lustre outing against India, which they lost by six wickets.

They failed to score a single boundary in the first six overs, where they scored 23/2. This is the first instance of any team failing to score a powerplay boundary against the Australian women in the history of T20I cricket.

After being sent in to bat first by Alyssa Healy, Pakistan never got going. The desperation for boundaries kept building with every dot ball, especially in the first six overs. 

Muneeba Ali, who’s captaining Pakistan in the absence of Fatima Sana, couldn’t clear the infield during the powerplay, which she’s quite used to doing, and was caught by Phoebe Litchfield after she tried to clear cow corner but failed to get the elevation. She departed in the fourth over at the score of 15, which began the fall of wickets that continued at regular intervals until they got all out for 82. 

Pakistan could only score 23 runs in the powerplay and lost Sadaf Shamas in that phase along with the skipper. Their first boundary only came on the first ball of the ninth over, when Nida Dar got a ball in her slot from Annabel Sutherland and cleared her front foot to bang it over mid-on for a four. 

Unfortunately, Pakistan could only score three more boundaries in the innings, and all came off the bat of Aliya Riaz, who was the highest scorer with 26 (32). 

Notably, this was also the joint fewest number of boundaries scored by the Pakistan women in ICC T20 World Cups. The last time they scored just four boundaries was in 2012 in Galle against the same opposition. 

If you’ve not downloaded the Cricket.com app yet, you’re missing out on our content — big time. Download the App here.