Muneeba heroics propel Pakistan to consolation win over Ireland in final T20I
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Player of the match Muneeba Ali’s hundred helped propel Pakistan women to a consolation win over Ireland on Sunday in the final Twenty20 International of the series that was won 2-1 by the Irish team.
Coming into this encounter, the Green Shirts were 2-0 down in the series, with Ireland winning the first T20I by 11 runs on Wednesday and the second encounter by four wickets on Friday.
Batting first at Clontarf Cricket Club Ground in Dublin, the Irish side got to a respectable 155-4 before centurion Muneeba and Aliya Riaz combined for an unbeaten 101 run partnership to make easy work of the Irish total — chasing it down with 14 balls to spare.
In the first innings, Irish allrounder Orla Prendergast continued with her good form in the series, scoring 64 runs not out of 46 balls.
Wicketkeeper Amy Hunter and Irish captain Gaby Lewis scored 29 and 36, respectively.
Muneeba started the Pakistani chase with three back-to-back boundaries off the bowling of Prendergast, the player of the match of the first encounter and winner of the player of the series award today.
One of the biggest hits of the series was hit by Muneeba over square-leg off Arlene Kelly in the fifth over of the innings.
The southpaw opener kept the momentum going, with the Green Shirts reaching the 50-run mark in just 5.1 overs — bringing up her half-century off just 29 balls.
The left-handed opener brought up her second century of the format with a single that got Pakistan over the line in the 18th over, reaching the milestone in just 68 deliveries.
She was adjudicated player of the match for the match-winning effort with the bat.
The series followed a productive month of preparation for Pakistan, who held a 17-day skills camp and a five-day pre-tour camp at the Hanif Mohammad High Performance Centre in Karachi before arriving in Dublin on August 3.
Ireland, meanwhile, entered the series high on confidence after a dominant showing against Zimbabwe women last month, where they swept both the T20I and ODI series at home.
Before participating in the 50-over ICC Women’s World Cup in September, Pakistan will play one series consisting of three matches against South Africa in Lahore from Sept 16 to 22.
The World Cup is scheduled to be held in India from Sept 30 to Nov 2, but Pakistan will play their matches of the global event in Sri Lanka under the hybrid model, according to which neither India nor Pakistan will visit each other’s venues due to political strains between the nuclear-armed neighbours.
Pakistan’s highly anticipated clash with arch-rivals India is scheduled for October 5, followed by encounters against defending champions Australia on October 8 and 2017 champions England on October 15.
The national side will then face New Zealand (October 18), South Africa (October 21), and co-hosts Sri Lanka (October 24) to conclude their round-robin stage.
