LAHORE (AM Khan): Sadaf Shamas weaved her magic with a brilliant spell of 5-17 as her side overhauled Stars’ 108-run total in the final over of Match 13 in the National Women’s T20 tournament 2024-25 at the National Bank Stadium on Friday afternoon.
After winning the toss and putting Stars into bat first, Challengers kept striking on regular intervals as Stars found themselves 16-4 and later, 32-5. Sadaf wreaked havoc with the ball as she snapped the first five wickets to fall with none of the Stars’ top four entering double figures.
No.5 batter Kaynat Hafeez top-scored with a 52-ball 48 hitting four fours to push her team past the 100-run mark. Kaynat was supported by Waheeda Akhtar who remained unbeaten on 21 off 16 balls comprising two boundaries as Stars ended with 108-9 in 20 overs. Rabia Rani returned figures of 3-17.
In turn, Challengers lost both the opening batters on 24 before finding themselves reeling at 47-5. Aliya Riaz and skipper Rameen Shamim took it upon themselves to ace the chase with a match-winning 65-run alliance. Aliya struck seven fours in her unbeaten 48 off 34 balls, while Rameen clubbed one six and two fours in her 19-ball 28 not out. For Stars, Anosha Nasir returned figures of 3-11 while Neelam Mushtaq and Tuba Hassan dismissed one batter each.
In the other match of the seventh round, Gull Feroza-led Strikers bested Invincibles by a seven-wicket margin as they chased the 144-run target in 17.4 overs with player of the match Eyman Fatima scoring an unbeaten 74 off 39 balls hitting 10 fours and two sixes.
Skipper Gull chipped in with a valuable 49 off 46 balls inclusive of five boundaries as she formed a 105-run partnership with Eyman after two early blows. Eyman, who currently leads the batting charts with 253 runs at a strike rate of 151, registered her third half-century in the tournament. For Invincibles, Neha Sharmin Nadeem, Ghulam Fatima and Fatima Khan bagged one wicket apiece.
Earlier, Invincibles got off to a solid start with 72-run opening stand between top-scorer Muneeba Ali (67) and Ayesha Zafar (36). Apart from the opening batters, only Iram Javed (12) reached double figures as Invincibles managed to score 143-5 in their 20 overs. Noreen Yaqoob dismissed two batters for 21 runs while Zunash Abdul Sattar and Anam Amin dismissed one batter each.
English