Gull Feroza and Sidra Amin scored half-centuries as Pakistan overhauled the 211-run target against Sri Lanka in the opening One-Day International of the three-match series with five wickets and 42 balls remaining here at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium, Hambantota on Thursday.
With this win Fatima Sana-led Pakistan have now won five consecutive ODIs in the ICC Women’s Championship 2025-29 having played seven matches and are placed second on the table besides New Zealand. In pursuit of the target, Pakistan’s opening duo of Gull and Sadaf Shamas got their team off to a positive start by putting on a 58-run stand in 9.5 overs. Sadaf fell to Chamari Athapaththu for 20 off 27 having hit three fours in her outing.
Player of the match Gull, who continued her impressive run of form with fourth consecutive fifty-plus score, continued to press on in the company of Sidra Amin as the duo put Sri Lanka bowlers under pressure for 19 overs. They stitched together a valuable 90-run stand pulling the sting out of the chase. In the course, Gull completed her fifty of 47 balls in the 20th over before falling for a fluent 77-ball 78 (11 fours) in the 29th over. She was pinned leg-before by Kavisha Dilhari, who later also accounted for Muneeba Ali.
Sidra completed her fifty off 84 balls with a boundary in the 33rd over. In tandem with Ayesha Zafar, she added 36 runs off 45 balls for the third wicket. Sri Lanka showed some resistance by taking three for 22 between overs 37 and 43 but in vain.
Inoka Ranaweera bowled Sidra for 57 – her 17th WODI fifty, Dilhari removed Muneeba Ali for one, while Najiha went after scoring 13 off 17 balls. Ayesha Zafar remained unbeaten for 27 off 31 balls with the help of a four and a six, while Fatima Sana hit a boundary before the winning run came in the form of a wide. Earlier, Pakistan were put in the field by Sri Lanka and they came back well after conceding two fifty-plus stands and didn’t let any Sri Lanka batter score an individual half-century as Athapaththu and Nilakshika scored 46 each. Sri Lanka went from 109 for 1 to 210-9, adding 101 runs for eight wickets.
Nashra Sundhu – the second leading wicket-taker ever for Pakistan in WODIs – took her tally of 117 scalps to 120 with the wickets of Vishmi Gunaratne (28, 32b, 4x4s), Athapaththu (46, 67b, 6x4s) and Malki Madara. She also drew the first blood and broke the opening stand by removing Gunaratne in the 12th over.
Athapaththu stitched another 53 runs with Hasini Perera (35, 63b, 3x4s) as the duo threatened to lay the foundation for a big score for Sri Lanka but Nashra put an end to the stand in the 24th over. It was from this juncture that Pakistan started making inroads.
No.6 batter Nilakshika Silva remained unbeaten for a 50-ball 46 hitting just two fours after walking in to bat at 136-4 in 33.4 overs. She made sure to help Sri Lanka cross the 200-run mark as wickets fell around her. Left-arm fast bowler Tasmia Rubab returned figures of 8-0-34-2, removing Harshitha Samarawickrama in 28th over and also struck in the 50th over. Off-spinner Umm-e-Hani pinned Perera leg-before in 34th over to bag neat figures of one for 38 in her 10 overs. Leg-spinner Syeda Aroob Shah picked up the scalp of Kavisha Dilhari in the 44th over when the no.5 batter had put on a 57-ball 42-run stand with Nilakshika. Aroob finished with one for 26 in her 10 overs. Pakistan only gave away 32 runs in the last seven overs with Fatima Sana also picking up a wicket. The second ODI will be played at the same venue on Saturday, 25 July.