DUBAI: Pakistan opener Muneeba Ali hailed the team’s “belief” after the side endured a chaotic batting show to trounce Thailand in their Women’s Asia Cup opener at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Tuesday night.

Pakistan’s batting woes exposed themselves once again as they were reduced to 23-3 within the powerplay after captain Fatima Sana won the toss. However, wicket-keeper-batter Muneeba stabilised the innings, and dug in to produce a sturdy knock of 54 runs off 52 balls that gave Pakistan a 35-run win.

Muneeba provided some much-needed relief to the batting line-up, braving the hot and humid conditions in Dubai.

“When wickets kept falling in the powerplay, we knew if we got a good partnership and kept on scoring runs, it would put the bowlers under pressure, and give us opportunities to score,” she said in the post-match press conference.

“That’s what my strategy was.” the bespectacled southpaw added, when asked about how she navigated the innings.

“In the past, if wickets fell in the powerplay, we wouldn’t be able to come back into the match.

“Today the difference was that even when we lost wickets, the team kept belief and tried setting a total which would be defendable against the opposition on this pitch.”

Pakistan’s propensity for batting collapses cost them greatly in the Women’s T20 World Cup in June, where they managed only one win in their group, against the Netherlands.

A lack of momentum and frequent collapses led them to humbling 64 and 113-run losses against India and Australia respectively, while a mid-innings stutter against Bangladesh left the team at 100-8, unable to chase an achievable 124.

The bilateral series that followed against Sri Lanka proved to be better from a batting perspective, especially with a new opening pair in Muneeba and Shawal Zulfiqar. However, the line-up still came up short, as Sri Lanka chased both targets of 170-odd in the first two matches to take the series.

“Obviously, in the last few T20 series we played before the Sri Lanka, our batting unit did not click as such and we had our struggles,” said Muneeba.

“We have been working on those issues in camps, to make sure we don’t repeat the same mistakes, and bring in some different options in our batting.”

Pakistan had found themselves in trouble early on, faltering at 6-2 at the two-over mark after a double wicket maiden by Thipatcha Phuttawong.

After a stodgy powerplay, Muneeba and Sadaf Shamas set about a rebuild, stitching a 54-run partnership to ease the early-innings jitters. Shamas, trying to cut a wider delivery, fell for a run-a-ball 2o. Fatima, who has been reliable with the bat in recent times, fell for a duck in the same over to put Pakistan in a real spot of bother.

Muneeba reached her half-century in the 15th over. Though a flurry of late wickets blotted the flow of runs, Muneeba’s knock and a useful cameo of 12 not out off four balls by Tuba Hassan took Pakistan to a first-innings score of 119-9.

Muneeba said after the match that though the team had aimed to put up a score of at least 140 on the board, they knew that 120 or 130-plus would be defendable by the team’s bowling line-up.

Spin trap

And defend they did; skipper Fatima was validated for her choice of batting first as Pakistan reduced Thailand to 84-8 for their 20 overs, owing to an expert spin-strangle.

Sadia Iqbal took a double wicket maiden of her own as Thailand found themselves at 6-2 at the two-over mark, mirroring Pakistan’s position at the corresponding point in their own innings.

The next 11 overs then amounted to only 37 runs as Pakistan’s spin attack tightened their grip on the match with disciplined bowling, giving nothing away to the batters.

Chasing 120,Thailand were 42-4 at the 13th over mark, requiring almost 12 runs an over thereon.

Nashra Sandhu’s introduction after the powerplay proved key with the veteran conceding only six runs across her four overs, she picked up the wicket of Natthakan Chantham with an excellent flighted delivery that turned to miss the bat and smash the off-stump.

“I didn’t have any complicated plans,” said Nashra in a post-match reflection video posted on Pakistan Cricket Board’s social media handles, featuring her and team-mate Tuba Hassan.

“I knew there was bounce and turn in the pitch, and that it was keeping low. I just had to bowl at the right spots, the pitch did the rest.”

Tuba had a decisive all-round impact on the match, featuring her emphatic stint with the bat and two wickets for 17 runs in her four overs. In the field, she nailed a direct-hit with razor-sharp accuracy to run Naomi Hamilton out.

“My plan was simple; bowl wicket-to-wicket and vary the pace as much as possible, because we also need to prepare for the next match,” said Tuba.

She added that the conditions were very humid, making them a little “tricky”, as the ball would slip easily.

“These are exactly the things we need to learn from, so that we can make less mistakes in the next matches and play better.”

For Thailand, the defeat marked the end of their Asia Cup campaign, having already played their first two group-stage matches that ended in a win against Hong Kong and a drubbing at the hands of India.

With first points on the board, Pakistan now turn their attention to the ever-crucial fixture against arch-rivals India on Saturday.