Fatima: Wicket of Athapaththu crucial in victory
Media release
Fatima Sana highlighted the dismissal of Chamari Athapaththu as the crucial moment as Pakistan opened their ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 campaign with a 31-run win over Sri Lanka.
Having been restricted to 116 all out batting first in the Group A clash, it was Pakistan skipper Fatima who dismissed her Sri Lankan counterpart for just six to give them the perfect start to defending that total.
From there, Sri Lanka’s chase never really got going, with wickets falling regularly as they ended up on 85 for nine from their 20 overs.
Fatima, who was named Player of the Match, was understandably delighted to have got off to a winning start against a Sri Lankan team that won the Asia Cup earlier this year.
She said: "I am excited, thanks for the team they supported well. All credit goes to management. I tried to back myself and be calm (with the bat).
“Obviously, we all know Chamari is a good player, we needed that wicket to have a good start and we got it. We won the toss and we wanted a lot of runs but we didn't get. But we still achieved the target in the game.”
The one concern for Pakistan, other than a couple of misfields, is the fitness of fast bowler Diana Baig, who pulled up injured in the first over of the second innings.
Fatima added: “Unfortunately she was injured. She is our main player. I had to calm myself as captain and carry on with the ball after that. We will ask her how she is after the game. We need to take the momentum and carry this to next match.”
It was a disappointing start for Sri Lanka, who had come into the game in good form and looked good with the ball in restricting Pakistan.
They struggled to get on top of the slow bowlers in their chase though, with Athapaththu acknowledging that Pakistan had played the conditions better.
She said: "I would like to congratulate Sana, she's played good cricket, leading from the front. That's really good for Pakistan. We struggled to chase. We have to adjust to conditions. These are good for batters, I hope we can bounce back. We bowled well.
“We have to bat really well too. We can't say the wicket is slow and outfield is like this. We have to play positive cricket.
Next up for Sri Lanka will be a clash with defending champions Australia, against whom Athapaththu has a very good record. And she has urged her team to play positive cricket if they are to bounce back from this defeat.
She added: “Actually, out approach is important. We have to play fearless cricket. They are a good team, if we can play best cricket we can beat any team.”
ENDS