Muneeba Ali Siddique rewrote the record books on Wednesday as the left-hander’s maiden T20I century orchestrated Pakistan’s commanding 70-run win over Ireland in the Group 2 match of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup at Cape Town.
The wicketkeeper-batter became the only woman batter from her country to score a century in the T20 World Cup history when she breached the 100-run mark in 66 balls after Ireland inserted Pakistan.
Muneeba batted with authority throughout the innings, toying with the field placements as she shuffled many a time to smack the ball over the in-field for boundaries. She smashed 14 in total in her extraordinary 102 off 68. Prior to this epic innings, Muneeba’s best T20I score was 43.
She was the reason Pakistan got a solid start as she added 44 runs with Javeria Khan, who was run out after making six off 13 in the sixth over. Pakistan lost their skipper Bismah Maroof, who struck a defiant half-century against India on Sunday, in the eighth over, but a resilient stand worth 101 with Nida Dar (33 off 28) only to be broken on the last ball of the penultimate over helped Pakistan post their highest T20 World Cup score of 165 for five.
This was a sweet victory for Pakistan after they were beaten 2-1 by Ireland at their own backyard in November.
Ireland were all out for 95 in 16.3 overs with Nashra Sandhu’s figures of four for 18 in four overs standing out.
It was, however, a combined bowling effort that limited Ireland to a small score as Nida Dar and Sadia Iqbal took two wicket each, while Tuba Hasan and Fatima Sana chipped in with a scalp each. Hence, nine of the 10 wickets were taken by the spinners.
Only two Ireland batters, Orla Prendergast and Eimear Richardson put resistance with the scores of 31 and 28.
Pakistan’s previous best score in the T20 World Cup was from Javeria Khan, who made 74 not out against the Ireland in 2018.
Pakistan travel to Paarl for their next match against the West Indies on Sunday. They will return to Cape Town to take on England on Tuesday.
Scores in brief
Pakistan beat Ireland at Newlands, Cape Town by 70 runs
Pakistan 165-5, 20 overs (Muneeba Ali 102, Nida Dar 33; Arlene Kelly 2/27, Laura Delany 1/20)
Ireland 95 all out, 16.3 overs (Orla Prendergast 31, Eimear Richardson 28; Nashra Sundhu 4/18, Nida Dar 2/5)
Player of the Match: Muneeba Ali (Pakistan)
