Ali's century in vain as Challengers continue to win; Blasters thump Strikers by nine wickets

A valiant century by Muneeba Ali and a half-century by Aliya Riaz could not take Dynamites over the line for their first victory in the Pakistan Cup as unbeaten Challengers continued their winning streak. At the National Stadium, half-centuries from Gul Feroza and Nahida Khan led to Blasters comfortably to a win over Strikers in the other fixture.



At the Oval Academy Ground, playing for their first victory of the tournament, Dynamites won the toss and decided to bat first. Ali and the other opener, Sadaf Shamas, put 59 runs on the board for the first wicket. After the dismissal of Shamas, Ali, who scored her first century of the competition, found a partner in Riaz (72) as they put a partnership of 145 runs. None of the other batters could add much after their dismissal and Dynamites scored 240 in the first innings.



In reply, Challengers lost Khadija Chisti early, but half-centuries by Sidra Amin (50) and captain Javeria Khan (83) kept them in the chase as they added 111 runs. Iram Javed took the charge of the chase as her unbeaten 58 runs off 100 balls led to Challengers winning their fifth match in a row.



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At the National Stadium, Strikers were in good shape as Jaweria Rauf (59) and Hafsa Khalis (31) added 75 runs after losing Ayesha Zafar for a duck. Natalia Pervaiz (32) was the only other batter who could go above 30 runs as Omaima Sohail broke the back of the Strikers winning by taking four wickets. Nida Dar also chipped in with three wickets as Strikers were bowled out of 183 runs.



Blasters were ruthless in chase courtesy of Feroza and Khan’s opening partnership of 159 runs. Feroza missed on her well-deserved century when she was dismissed by Ayesha Zafar on 85. Khan remained unbeaten on 99 to guide Blasters to their fourth victory of the competition by nine wickets.



Brief Scores



Dynamites 240/6 in 50 overs (Muneeba Ali 117, Aliya Riaz 72; Dua Majid 3/55) lost to Challengers 243/5 in 48.3 overs (Javeria Khan 83, Iram Javed 58*; Aliya Riaz 1/10) by five wickets.



Strikers 183 all out in 48.1 overs (Jaweria Rauf 58, Natalia Pervaiz 32; Omaima Sohail 4/24) lost to Blasters 187/1 in 38.4 overs (Gul Feroza 85, Nahida Khan 79*; Ayesha Zafar 1/10) by nine wickets