KARACHI: Captain Bismah Maroof and the in-form Muneeba Ali struck half-centuries in a century partnership while powering PCB Challengers to an emphatic eight-wicket drubbing of PCB Blasters in the National Triangular T20 Women’s Championship.

In the penultimate fixture of the competition at the National Stadium here on Monday, the Challengers cruised to their second win in three matches with almost three overs to spare. After losing Ayesha Zafar to the first ball of the innings, The left-handed duo of Muneeba and Bismah came together to share a stand of 121 from just 72 balls to put the result beyond doubt.

Muneeba continued here outstanding form to register her third successive 50-plus score. Following on the heels of 50 and 108, the 22-year-old reached run-a-ball 56 that included seven boundaries before she fell to Blasters skipper Ramin Shamim.

Bismah, the Pakistan skipper, finished up with 62 with her 47-ball knock laced with eight hits to the fence.

Earlier, Javeria Wadood Khan remained unbeaten with 67 but despite her heroics, the Blasters — who suffered their second loss in two straight days after starting the event with back-to-back wins — only could post a below-par total of 124-5 after opting to bat first.

Javeria Rauf was only other batter to make a significant contribution with a 29-ball 27 (four fours) while adding 59 for the second wicket with Javeria Wadood Khan, whose 63-ball effort was decorated with 10 boundaries.

The last league-round fixture on Tuesday pits the Challengers against the PCB Dynamites, who must win to stay in the hunt for Thursday’s final at the same venue.

Brief scores:

PCB BLASTERS 124-5 in 20 overs (Javeria Wadood Khan 67 not out, Javeria Rauf 27; Fatima Shah 1-21, Aroob Shah 1-22, Nida Dar 1-23); PCB CHALLENGERS 125-2 in 17.1 overs (Bismah Maroof 62 not out, Muneeba Ali 56; Anum Amin 1-22, Ramin Shamim 1-23).

Published in Dawn, January 14th, 2020