PAK-W vs ZIM-W: Pakistan go 1-0 up as Ayesha Zafar's century blows away Zimbabwe in 1st T20I

Pakistan women continued their winning run from the ODI series, hammering Zimbabwe women by 153 runs in first T20I on Tuesday, May 12, at National Stadium, Karachi. After opting to bat first, Pakistan posted a massive score of 237/5 in their allotted 20 overs, riding on a breathtaking century from Ayesha Zafar.

Aliya Riaz (48 off 23), Gull Feroza (37 off 19) and captain Fatima Sana (21* off 13) also made valuable contributions to the score. In reply, Zimbabwe could never get their chase going and were skittled for just 84 in 18.2 overs with Fatima Sana, Natalia Pervaiz (2/3, 2 overs) and Sadia Iqbal (2/14, 3.2 overs), guiding Pakistan to a massive victory.

Courtesy of their efforts, Pakistan took a 1-0 lead in the series with the second T20I set to be played on Thursday, May 14 at the same venue.

Top run-scorer of the Match

Top wicket-taker of the Match

Player of the Match

Ayesha Zafar was adjudged Player of the Match for her breathtaking century. She first brought up her fifty off 29 balls and later completed her century on the very last ball of Pakistan’s innings. Zafar slammed 15 fours and two sixes en route to her maiden WT20I century.

 Turning Point

Ayesha Zafar stitched two important partnerships during Pakistan’s innings. First with Aliya Riaz, adding 67 runs off 35 balls for the fifth wicket. Later, she added another 70 runs off just 27 balls with Fatima Sana to guide her team to a humongous score, which proved to be too much for Zimbabwe’s batting line up.

What did the captains say?:

Winning Captain, Fatima Sana (Pakistan Women):  

(153-run win. Is there anything you can't do these days as a team?) I think the credit goes to the team. They are playing exactly the way we want.

(Is there anything you need to work on?) I am satisfied with the teammates. They were awesome in every department.

(On the way Ayesha Zafar and Aliya Riaz played) I think Ayesha played is what we want. The aggressiveness with intent is good.

(Do you want to carry with the momentum or we will see some new faces in the coming games?) You will see more changes in the team (chuckles). Because we want to give chances to all the players."

Losing Captain, Nomvelo Sibanda (Zimbabwe Women):

(Thoughts on the loss) Tough day in the office.

(The energy at the start was good. What happened afterwards?) We lost momentum along the way and it resulted in a big score. I thought that the energy dropped a bit. We put down a lot of catches. We are still a work in progress."