Muneeba Ali Becomes First Pakistan Woman to Score T20I Century
Pakistan Women’s National Cricket Team made history in the 2023 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup. Wicketkeeper-batter Muneeba Ali became the first female batter from Pakistan to score a century in T20Is.
The historical event happened in the match between Pakistan and Ireland on February 15. It was the 10th clash of the tournament, and Pakistan won by 70 runs.
Before the match between Pakistan and Ireland, there were five centurions across seven editions of the Women’s T20 World Cup. These centurions are Deandra Dottin, Meg Lanning, Harmanpreet Kaur, Heather Knight, and Lizelle Lee.
HISTORIC! 🙌🏼
💯 Muneeba Ali becomes the first-ever Pakistan batter to score a century in Women’s T20 World Cups & T20 Internationals! #T20WorldCup #BackOurGirls #PAKvIRE pic.twitter.com/b0P6ZcDU31
— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) February 15, 2023
Reactions to Muneeba Ali’s Record
Several people congratulated Ali for her record. Among them was actor Mawra Hocane, former cricketers Azhar Ali and Imran Nazir, and former Pakistan captain Sana Mir. The former captain shared a photo with “the first centurion” in the women’s T20Is and captioned it, Mandatory pic with the first centurion for Pakistan in T20 and T20 World Cup. The name is @MuneebaAli17.”
Mandatory pic with the first centurion for Pakistan in T20 and T20 World Cup. The name is @MuneebaAli17 💪🏼🇵🇰 pic.twitter.com/lDeEFN8CKD
— Sana Mir ثناء میر (@mir_sana05) February 15, 2023
Muneeba Ali’s Achievements
Welcome to the #T20WorldCup hundred club, Muneeba Ali 👏#PAKvIRE #TurnItUphttps://t.co/qvyFMCe2RE
— T20 World Cup (@T20WorldCup) February 15, 2023
In addition to being the first woman from Pakistan to score a T20I hundred, Ali is the sixth to achieve the feat at a World Cup, and she did it all without even a T20I fifty to her name. Before the match, her best in the format was 43. She did achieve a one-day international hundred against the same opponents in Lahore last November.
During the match, Muneeba and veteran Nida Dar (33) shared a third-wicket partnership of 101. When talking about her approach towards her century hit, Muneeba said, “There were enough overs, and I had enough runs, and my teammates were telling me to go for the hundred because you don’t get opportunities like this very often.”
When interviewed about her achievement after the match, Muneeba credited batting partner Dar with encouraging her at a crucial point of the innings.
Due to her performance in the match, Ali was awarded the Player of the Match award. When she received the award she said, “I want to dedicate my (Player of the Match) award to my captain (Bismah Maroof) and my teammates. We had a bad game (against India) and we fight a lot, but everyone is happy today.”
Pakistan’s Progress in the 2023 Women’s T20 World Cup
Following their victory against Ireland, Pakistan is now third in their group standings with a net run rate of +1.542 and two points. Before the match, Pakistan lost to India in their first match in the World Cup on February 12.
Pakistan will play their next game against West Indies in Paarl on Sunday (Feb 19).
Pakistan Women’s National Cricket Team Previous Achievements
The women’s cricket team has participated in several ICC Women’s Cricket World Cups. In the 2014 ICC Women’s World Twenty20, Pakistan finished in seventh place, defeating Sri Lanka by 14 runs in the playoffs. They reached the final in the 2012 Women’s Twenty20 Asia Cup but lost to India by 18 runs.
Among the different teams that Pakistan has played against, they played most frequently against Ireland. The two teams played against each other in 13 matches, and out of those matches, Pakistan won 11.