Pakistan made 119 and won by 35, and Thailand are out of the Asia Cup
Pakistan were held to 119 for 9 in Dubai on Tuesday and still won their opening Women’s Asia Cup match by 35 runs. Thailand’s tournament ends with one win from three.
Sep 2, 2026
Pakistan’s first match of this Women’s Asia Cup was also Thailand’s last, and for an hour it looked like the wrong team held the advantage. Pakistan were held to 119 for 9 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Tuesday. Thailand needed 120 to move above India at the top of Group A. They finished on 84 for 8, beaten by 35 runs, and their tournament is over.
Muneeba Ali carried an innings that kept falling apart around her
Muneeba Ali made 54 off 52 balls with four fours, her fourth half-century in T20 internationals, and she was named player of the match. Nothing about it was fluent. Thailand’s spinners took wickets in clusters and Pakistan never held a partnership together long enough to build a platform, which is how a side that bats its full 20 overs ends up nine down for 119.
Suleeporn Laomi took 3 for 14 and Thipatcha Putthawong 3 for 18. Phannita Maya added two more. Eight of the nine wickets went to that trio. Sadaf Shamas made 20 off 20 and Umm-e-Hani 17, and after that the scorecard thins out fast. Tuba Hassan finished 12 not out.
Fatima Sana’s side walked off knowing 119 was under par. It took nine overs of the chase to find out it was enough.
Sadia Iqbal made the chase impossible in the second over
Sadia Iqbal’s figures read 4-1-11-3. The maiden was the second over of the innings and it took two wickets, leaving Thailand two down with six runs on the board. Nannapat Koncharoenkai was one of them, out for nought off four balls. Tuba Hassan took 2 for 17, Nashra Sandhu 1 for 6 from her four overs.
Chanida Sutthiruang’s 25 off 24 was the only innings that moved at anything like the required rate, and it came at number six with the game already gone. Naruemol Chaiwai made 17 off 33, Natthakan Chantham 14 off 27, Aphisara Suwanchonrathi 13 off 18. Thailand batted out their overs, which is the polite way of saying they stopped chasing some time before the end.
Thailand finish with one win from three
Thailand’s tournament ran to three matches and produced one win, the six-run defence of 120 for 9 against Hong Kong on 28 August. India then dismissed them for 65 on 30 August and won by 94. Pakistan finished the job on Tuesday.
Two points from three games leaves them third in Group A with no games left. India and Pakistan are both already on two points from a single match each, so one of the two is guaranteed to reach four when they meet on 5 September. There is no arithmetic that puts Thailand in the semi-finals.
The bowling was the part worth keeping. Laomi and Putthawong took six wickets between them for 32 runs, in a tournament where their side has been outclassed with the bat in every game.
Group A now runs through 5 September
Pakistan sit second behind India on net run rate, level on points. Hong Kong are yet to win. India play Hong Kong on 3 September and Pakistan on 5 September, and Hong Kong close the group against Pakistan on 7 September, all of them 8pm IST starts in Dubai.
The semi-finals are on 10 and 11 September and the final on 13 September, all at the same ground. Pakistan have what they needed from Tuesday, which was two points and a batting problem to solve before they meet India on 5 September.