FAISALABAD: Gull Feroza and Syeda Aroob Shah combined to give Invincibles a magnificent seven-wicket victory over Challengers while Stars downed Conquerors by six wickets courtesy Hafsa Khalid’s brilliant bowling in the ninth-round matches of the National Women’s T20 Tournament in Faisalabad on Thursday.
Challengers have played all their eight matches, while Stars will be up against Invincibles in an important game in terms of the qualification for the final. Table toppers Strikers, who have secured the final berth, will face fourth-placed Conquerors.
On Thursday at the Bohranwali Ground, Invincibles opted to bowl first and were put to test by the Challengers opener Komal Khan, who scored a brilliant 75 off 59 balls. None of the Challengers batters crossed the 20-run mark with Shawaal Zulfiqar scoring 19. She stitched a 51-run opening stand with Komal as Challengers posted 143-7.
For Invincibles, Aroob took two wickets for 15 while left-arm spinner Anosha Nasir claimed 2-23.
In their chase, Invincibles lost Samiya Afsar for a three-ball duck before Gull and Aroob put on a 99-run stand.
Player-of-the-match Gull scored an unbeaten 63 off 42 balls including nine fours, while Aroob made a 39-ball 48 with the help of eight fours. Invincibles reached the target in 16.2 overs despite off-spinner Umm-e-Hani’s two late blows in which she dismissed Aroob and Eyman Fatima (16).
At the Jawad Club Ground, the Tuba Hassan-led Stars overhauled a modest 112-run target set by Conquerors as leg-spin reigned supreme with Stars’ skipper and Hafsa Khalid taking four wickets each.
Conquerors’ decision to bat first did not go according to the plan as they threw away a good start of 84-1, losing nine wickets for 27. The top three, Ravail Farhan (31), Muneeba Ali (18) and Gull Rukh (24), had set the innings on course to a healthy total but the remaining batters could not capitalise.
Hafsa, the player-of-the-match, picked up four wickets in just 2.5 overs giving only nine runs, while Tuba took 4-20.
In turn, Stars reached the target in 16.4 overs with contributions from Iram Javed (38), Samina Aftab (23) and Sadaf Shamas (21) Aleesa Mukhtiar picked up 2-12 while Humna Bilal and Ghulam Fatima dismissed one batter each.
Brief scores:
Invincibles bt Challengers by seven wickets.
CHALLENGERS 143-7 in 20 overs (Komal Khan 75; Syeda Aroob Shah 2-15, Anosha Nasir 2-23); INVINCIBLES 144-3 in 16.2 overs (Gull Feroza 63 not out, Syeda Aroob Shah 48; Umm-e-Hani 2-29)
Stars bt Conquerors by six wickets.
CONQUERORS 111 in 19.5 overs (Ravail Farhan 31, Gull Rukh 24; Hafsa Khalid 4-9, Tuba Hassan 4-20); STARS 112-4 in 16.4 overs (Iram Javed 38, Samina Aftab 23, Sadaf Shamas 21; Aleesa Mukhtiar 2-12).
Published in Dawn, October 23rd, 2026
