PAK-W vs SL-W

Right then - that's all we have for you from the opening day of the 2024 ICC Women's T20 World Cup, There's another double-header lined up tomorrow - South Africa and the West Indies play each other in the afternoon at Dubai, followed by a mouth-watering clash between India and New Zealand at the same venue in the evening. Join us right here on Sportskeeda for our coverage of both those games, and in the meantime, keep an eye on our page for a whole lot more! This is Rajarshi Das, signing off on behalf of Rudransh Khurrana. Good night! 

A statement win for the women in green over the 2024 Women's Asia Cup champions today. Pakistan, with little to defend, fought hard and claimed the honours in this clash between two South-Asian heavyweights - and with a bowler short at that. They return to action on Sunday, facing their arch-rivals possibly the biggest of the South-Asian heavyweights - India. The turn-around time is lesser for Sri Lanka - they have a tough assignment against Australia in the evening on Saturday. 

Sana Fatima, Pakistan captain: Whole management gave me a lot of confidence. I thought we wanted a lot of runs on the board. We didn't get them, our whole team was backing each other up a lot, and that turned out to be enough. Unfortunately she (Diana Baig) was injured, I was nervous at the time because she's a main player. I realised I'll have to bowl, and so, I decided to calm myself down. We want the best momentum from here, we got it, we'll try to win as many matches from here on.

Chamari Athapaththu, Sri Lanka captain: First of all, I would like to congratulate young captain Fatima Sana, she played good cricket and led from the front. We struggled to chase, we have to adjust to these conditions, can't complain. Hope we can bounce back the next three games. We bowled good, the thing is we had to bat good. Can't create shots here, wicket's slow and low and outfield isn't good. We have to adjust and play positive cricket. Approach is important, we have to play positive cricket. Australia is a very good team, we can beat any team if we play positively.

Fatima Sana is the Player of the Match! Here's what she has to say: I am thankful to my team for helping me. All credit goes to them and the team management. I believe in myself about scoring runs. We all know Chamari is a big player and that an early wicket there can transfer the match to us. Thankfully, that happened today.

Match summary:

Pakistan win by 31 runs

Sana Fatima 30 (20) | Sadia Iqbal 3/17 (4)
Nilakshi de Silva 22 (25) | Chamari Athapaththu 3/18 (4)

As it turns out, Pakistan outdid the performance from the Sri Lankan spinners with their own. The fact that they lost their premier pacer, Diana Baig one ball into the innings didn't deter them one bit was truly admirable - skipper Fatima Sana had heaps of bowling options to work with including herself, and that was what she proceeded to do successfully.

The wicket of Chamari Athapaththu 14 balls into the innings provided Pakistan an immense boost in confidence. They were buzzing about after that - Nida Dar and Omaima Sohail then proceeded to race through the overs, barely giving the batters any time to compose themselves or any loose deliveries to make good use of. Sohail ended the powerplay with the wicket of Harshitha Madavi as the left-hander attempted a needless swipe across the line. 

Hasini Perera fell soon after to the same bowler shortly afterwards. The required rate kept going up with each passing over as the Lankan batters struggled to hit the gaps more often. Nashra Sandhu got in on the act, dismissing Kavisha Dilhari as she looked to go for a big shot. That was the case with Vishmi Gunaratne two overs later - Gunaratne tried to hold the innings together, but couldn't get going.

The required rate kept climbing, and gradually reached virtually unassailable heights as Pakistan's spinners kept a chokehold. There were scoring opportunities off Tuba Hassan's leg-spin, but they weren't capitalized upon. Sri Lanka fell well short at the end, and as it turns out, Sana Fatima's cameo towards the end of the first innings made a whole lot of difference. Stay tuned for the presentations....

9:27 P.M. Local Time, 10:57 P.M. IST: There's the win for Pakistan, and they look absolutely chuffed! They haven't had the best of records against Sri Lanka off late, missing out on the finals of the 2024 Women's Asia Cup at their expense. A remarkable fightback, this for the Sana Fatima-led side after they had only 116 to play with!

19.6 Sana Fatima to Inoshi Fernando, full and wide outside off, slogs it to mid-wicket. It falls short and they take a single but that's it! Pakistan start their campaign with a massive win over the Asian champions!

19.2 Sana Fatima to Sachini Nisansala, CAUGHT BEHIND! The skipper picks another wicket. Loopy full toss wide outside off, Nisansala looks to scoop it but the ball drops on her and she ends up ramping it straight in front of the keeper who leans in and takes it easily

Sachini Nisansala c Muneeba Ali b Fatima Sana 3 (7b, 0x4, 0x6)

These dropped chances sure will prove costly against teams deemed favourites to win the tournament. Pakistan need to look into their catching - might be an issue under lights.

18.6 Sadia Iqbal to Sachini Nisansala, another bad, bad drop from Pakistan. In this game it doesn't matter but in some other, it will. Nisansala hoicks this from outside off in the air. The ball comes off the bottom of her bat and goes over covers softly. The fielder tracks back, holds her hands up but lets it slip out