Women's T20 World Cup: File photo of the Pakistan cricket team.© AFP
Both Pakistan and India are out of the Women's T20 World Cup from the group stage. India's hopes of qualifying for the semi-finals hinged of Pakistan's match against New Zealand. Had Pakistan won the match, the Harmanpreet Kaur-led India would have entered the last four stage. Pakistan restricted New Zealand in 110/6 in 20 overs but then got out for just 56 - the second lowest total in the history of Women's T20 World Cup. What was even worse that Pakistan dropped at least eight catches.
Pakistan's display was slammed by their former men's team player Basit Ali.
"Did it seem like Pakistan cricket team? It seemed like Pakistan were playing badminton, not cricket. Our women's cricket chairperson is a badminton player, and it showed in the way the team played. 11-12 catches dropped, easy ones. Dolly, dolly, dolly! I have never seen such a team. Maybe 10 matches were lost but I have never seen such poor catching. I was disappointed with Wasim. He changed the batting order. Why? You gave them the opportunity to win. All were out of bad shots. Fatima Sana lost her father but played the best among all," Basit Ali said on his YouTube channel.
"Everybody knew out team is weak, but it pained me to see the match. Not that we lost, but the way we lost."
Meanwhile, India duo Deepti Sharma and Renuka Singh were rewarded for some of their dominant performances at the ongoing ICC Women's T20 World Cup as they inched towards the top of the ICC Women's T20I Bowler Rankings.
The experienced pair combined for 11 wickets for India at the T20 World Cup. Deepti rose one place and Renuka gained two spots in the updated rankings. The duo now shares an equal third place on the list for T20I bowlers behind England spinner Sophie Ecclestone and Pakistan's Sadia Iqbal.
Ecclestone has picked up four wickets in three matches at the ongoing tournament. She extended her lead on second-placed Iqbal to 19 rating points. Deepti and Renuka remain within striking distance at the top of the bowler rankings with 740 points each.
Australia's experienced stat Megan Schutt moved up four places to sixth and South Africa spinner Nonkululeko Mlaba progressed six spots to seventh.