Skipper Fatima Sana was the headline act as Pakistan women go through to the Women’s World Cup after beating Thailand by 87 runs in their fourth One-Day International (ODI) encounter of the ICC Women’s World Cup 2025 Qualifiers on Thursday.
Pakistan have booked their spot for the World Cup to be held later this year, courtesy their bowlers who once again stepped up to defend a below-par score of 205.
Earlier in the day, player of the match Fatima played a captain’s knock of 62 not out, ably supported by Veteran bat Sidra Amin.
Sidra top-scored for Pakistan with 80 as the hosts set Thailand a target of 206 to win in the day-night encounter at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. Sidra and Fatima’s 97 partnership was crucial for the Green Team after being in trouble earlier in the innings.
Pakistan’s batting woes continued as the hosts lost regular wickets and could not up their scoring rate in the early half of their innings after opting to bat first. When Fatima joined Sidra at the crease, the score was at a dismal 85-4 in 32 overs.
The Green Team’s batting effort did not get off to the best of starts with the medium pace of Phannita Maya getting the better of Shawaal Zulfiqar, who was playing her first match of the tournament today.
The right-hander was playing in place of newcomer Gull Feroza. She fell while trying to break the shackles after Thailand were brilliant with their bowling discipline in the powerplay, hardly bowling a bad ball upfront.
Next to go was in-form top-order bat Muneeba, getting out in a tame manner to spinner Onnicha Kamchomphu’s off-spin. She got a top-edge while sweeping a straight forward delivery to get dismissed by an easy catch in the circle.
Player of the match for Pakistan in their encounter against Scotland — Aliya Riaz fell to a run out again. Her dismissal was reminiscent of the way she got out in the previous match against the West Indies — getting run out by miles after a mix-up in the middle with Sidra.
Right-handed batter Sidra, however, was again the player who stepped up during a moment of crisis for Pakistan. She scored her third 50 in four innings in this tournament to bring the hosts back into the match.
She scored 80 of 105 deliveries in an innings that held the Pakistani effort together. She scored eight boundaries as she proved her mettle as the veteran batter of the side.
Thailand dropped six catches, including the Pakistani skipper, in their bowling innings, giving the hosts plenty of chances to recover.
Fatima made the most of her luck, scoring an unbeaten 62 of 59 with 5 boundaries and a six and powering Pakistan past the 200 mark in the last over of the innings.
Thailand’s reply got off to a decent start with the visitors at 44-1 at one stage before Fatima got the crucial breakthrough by dismissing Nattaya Boochatham for 16.
However, once that wicket fell, Thailand continued to lose wickets regularly. They were outmatched by Pakistan’s spin trio of Nashra Sandhu, Sadia Iqbal and Rameen Shamim who made sure the score was never within reach for the visitors.
Pakistan’s bowling continued to be the saving grace for the Green Team as they made short work of their opponents.
Fatima lead the bowling attack by grabbing 3 wickets along with team mate Rameen and Nashra.
Earlier in the day, Pakistan had won the toss and chose to bat against Thailand on a pitch that didn’t seem to be spin as much as the Green Team’s previous encounter against the Windies.
Pakistan were the favourites going into this encounter against Thailand, being the higher-ranked side, with the winning momentum of being unbeaten in their first three matches of the tournament going into this clash.
Thailand came into this match after a high-scoring encounter against Ireland, where they lost by 46 runs after being set a 306-run target by the Irish side.
The six-team ICC event — which includes Bangladesh, Ireland, Scotland, Thailand and West Indies alongside hosts Pakistan — features a single-league round-robin format with the matches taking place at the Gaddafi Stadium and LCCA ground in Lahore.
The tournament will decide the two qualifiers for the 2025 Women’s World Cup to be held later this year in India.
Pakistan, however, will be playing their matches at a neutral venue after a “fusion” model was decided upon following India’s refusal to play its matches in Pakistan for the ICC Champions Trophy earlier this year.
Teams
Pakistan: Shawaal Zulfiqar, Muneeba Ali, Sidra Amin, Aliya Riaz, Natalia Pervaiz, Sidra Nawaz (wicket-keeper), Fatima Sana (captain), Rameen Shamim, Diana Baig, Sadia Iqbal and Nashra Sandhu.
Thailand: Nattaya Boochatham, Chanida Sutthiruang, Nannapat Koncharoenkai, Natthakan Chantham, Naruemol Chaiwai (captain), Phannita Maya, Onnicha Kamchomphu, Thipatcha Putthawong, Sunida Chaturongrattana, Suwanan Khiaoto (wicket-keeper) and Suleeporn Laomi.