BENONI: Number 11 batter Nashra Sandhu hit a six off the penultimate ball of the match and then took a single off the final ball with two runs needed to lead Pakistan to a dramatic tie in the third and final ODI against South Africa at the Willowmoore Park, Benoni, South Africa on Sunday.
At the end of the series, Pakistan occupied the fifth spot in the ICC Women’s Championship rankings with 15 points from as many games, one more than New Zealand who have 14 points.
Chasing 266 runs for an improbable win, Pakistan batters led by Javeria Khan (74 off 103 balls, nine fours) and Aliya Riaz (71 off 82 balls, six fours and three sixes) fought back brilliantly after a stuttering start.
The two added 74 runs for the fifth wicket after Pakistan had been reduced to 91 for four in the 24th over.
Aliya added 32 for the sixth wicket with Umaima Sohail (16 off 13 balls, two fours) and 46 for the seventh wicket with Sana Mir (16 off 14 balls, two fours) to keep Pakistan in the hunt.
Aliya was the eighth wicket to fall with the visitors still needing 17 to win.
Aiman Anwar was run out leaving the last pair of Nashra and Sidra Nawaz with the task of 11 runs off four balls, soon after, Nashra”s heroics sealed a thrilling tie for Pakistan.
Earlier, South Africa posted 265 runs for the loss of six wickets in their allotted 50 overs.
Pakistan captain Bismah Maroof won the toss and opted to field first.
Sana Mir took the 147th wicket of her career to become the highest wicket-taking spinner in women’s ODIs.
For Pakistan, Aliya with figures of 10-1-49-2 was the most successful bowler, Aimen Anwar, Nida Dar and Sana took a wicket each.
