HAMBANTOTA: Gull Feroza and Sidra Amin struck half-centuries as Pakistan began their tour of Sri Lanka with a comfortable five-wicket victory in the first women’s ODI at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium on Thursday.
Chasing 211, Pakistan reached the target in 43 overs, with Gull making a fluent 78 off 77 balls and Sidra anchoring the innings with 57 off 94 balls.
Pakistan’s fifth consecutive win in the ICC Women’s Championship 2025-29 moved them to second on the points table, behind New Zealand.
“It’s a matter of pride to contribute for my team and I am happy to win the player-of-the-match award,” Gull said after the match.
After being asked to bat first, Sri Lanka made a promising start as Vishmi Gunaratne and captain Chamari Athapaththu put on 56 for the opening wicket. Gunaratne made 28 before she was caught off Nashra Sandhu in the 12th over.
Athapaththu then added 53 with Hasini Perera before the left-arm spinner struck again, bowling the Sri Lankan skipper for 46 off 67 balls.
Sri Lanka were 109-2 at that stage but Pakistan’s disciplined bowling prevented the hosts from building a substantial total. Perera and Kavisha Dilhari both scored 35, while Nilakshika Silva remained unbeaten on 46.
Sri Lanka lost five wickets for 32 runs in the final seven overs to finish on 210-9.
Nashra was the pick of Pakistan’s bowlers with 3-42, while left-arm pacer Tasmia Rubab claimed 2-34. Umm-e-Hani and Syeda Aroob Shah took a wicket each.
Pakistan’s chase was set up by an opening stand of 58 between Gull and Sadaf Shamas. Sadaf fell for 20, but Gull continued to attack and put on 90 with Sidra for the second wicket.
Gull, who was named player of the match, completed her fourth consecutive ODI half-century from 47 balls before being dismissed leg-before by Dilhari for 78, having struck 11 fours.
“We were just trying to play the ball according to its merit. The ball was moving and there was some swing, so Sidra and I communicated that we would take a little time because the bowling was good,” she said. “Whatever bad balls we got, we tried to punish them, while the good balls were allowed to pass. Since I was set, my effort was to take charge whenever I got the opportunity.”
Sidra reached her half-century from 84 balls and added 36 with Ayesha Zafar before being bowled by Inoka Ranaweera for 57.
Sri Lanka briefly threatened a comeback by taking three wickets for 22 runs, but Pakistan remained in control. Ayesha stayed unbeaten on 27 off 31 balls, while captain Fatima Sana hit the winning boundary as Pakistan completed the chase with 42 balls to spare.
Gull admitted she would have preferred to remain at the crease until the end.
“I was disappointed that I couldn’t finish the match. I wanted to finish it and take the team to victory, but unfortunately that didn’t happen. I am happy that at least I was able to contribute to the team,” she said.
Pakistan’s bowlers had earlier restricted Sri Lanka after the hosts had threatened to build a substantial total.
“Obviously, our bowlers bowled very well. Sri Lanka got runs early on, but the way our bowlers came back was very good,” Gull said.
Pakistan will look to extend their winning run and secure the series when the second ODI is played at the same venue on Saturday.
“We have started the series positively and will try to continue this momentum. These are important Championship points for us and we will try to finish the series 3-0 so that we can get the points as well as the trophy,” she said.
Published in Dawn, July 24th, 2026