India were chasing just 56 after bowling Pakistan out for 55, their lowest total in Women’s T20I cricket. Shafali Verma gave India an explosive start, smashing the first ball for six and taking the score to 14 without loss after eight deliveries.
Fatima Sana was introduced into the attack and made an immediate impact. She bowled a shorter delivery to Shafali, who attempted to work it away but only managed a thick outside edge.
The ball went up in the air and Fatima completed the catch herself to dismiss Shafali for 12 off six balls.
The Pakistan captain then celebrated animatedly, gesturing towards the dressing room as she indicated that Shafali should head back. The moment quickly caught attention during the India-Pakistan clash.
Two more wickets complete powerplay hat-trick of sorts
Fatima was not finished. On the final delivery of the same over, she dismissed Pratika Rawal, who edged a loose shot outside the off stump through to the wicketkeeper.
Smriti Mandhana then looked to settle the chase in the following over, hitting Fatima for a boundary with a well-timed flick. However, the Pakistan captain responded immediately.
She produced a delivery that came back into Mandhana and trapped the India opener leg before wicket. The umpire raised the finger, giving Fatima her third wicket of the powerplay.
Fatima finished with figures of 3/17 from her three overs and claimed all three Indian wickets to fall.
Fatima achieves rare powerplay milestone
The three-wicket burst added another notable achievement to Fatima’s T20I record.
She has now taken three wickets inside the powerplay in a T20I on two occasions, becoming the first Pakistan bowler to achieve the feat twice.
Her earlier three-wicket powerplay came against Zimbabwe in Karachi earlier this year.
India complete comfortable run chase
Despite Fatima’s excellent spell, Pakistan had very little to defend after being bowled out for 55. India recovered from the early loss of three wickets and completed the chase in just 8.4 overs.
Harmanpreet Kaur remained unbeaten on 18 from 18 balls, while Deepti Sharma finished on 12 from 14 balls as India secured a seven-wicket victory with 68 balls to spare.