ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020 Match 19, Pakistan vs Thailand: Preview, prediction, likely XIs

ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020 Match 19, Pakistan vs Thailand: Preview, prediction, likely XIs

South Africa Women

Pakistan Women and Thailand Women will play each other in the penultimate game in the group stage of the T20 World Cup. The match will be played at the Sydney Showground Stadium.

With both the teams out of the race for semifinal spot this will be more of a match for pride. Thailand would like to make this World Cup memorable for them by making a huge upset whereas Pakistan would like to ensure that they finish their campaign on a winning note.

Pakistan started the tournament with an impressive win over West Indies thanks to an all-round performance. However, their form dipped against the stronger oppositions in England and South Africa. The consecutive defeats ensured that they are out of the tournament even before the last match. Their bowling looked impressive in all the matches with Aiman Anwer (6), Diana Baig (5) and Nida Dar (5) leading the wickets tally. Batting is their weak spot as none of the batters have aggregated more than 100 runs in three matches with Javeria Khan leading with 82 runs and Aliya Riaz close second with 80. They would like to deliver in this area and post a big total against Thailand.

Thailand may have impressed one and all with their sportsman spirit and sharpness in the field but there is no doubt that they are the weakest team in this tournament. Their bowlers have taken only six wickets with Soraya Lateh leading with two scalps to her name. Their batting is even weaker as they could not cross 90 even once in their three matches. None of their batters totaled fifty runs in the tournament with Nattakan Chantam leading the tally with 47 runs. It will be an uphill task for the Thai girls to deliver a win in this tournament.

Head to Head

These two have met only once so far with Pakistan emerging as the winner.

Key Players

Diana Baig (Pakistan): The right-arm medium pacer from Pakistan, Baig is one of their top bowlers and would like to provide early blow with her opening spell. She is among wickets and against a relatively weak batting lineup this is a great chance for her to finish the tournament with a bagful of wickets.

Nattakan Chantam (Thailand):  Chantam played one good innings against England when she was the top scorer with 32 runs. She would like to play a similar innings against Pakistan to post a big total or control the chase. If Thailand bat first, the main goal for Chantam and other batters would be to take the team total to above hundred.

Likely XIs

Pakistan Women: Muneeba Ali, Javeria Khan, Bismah Maroof (c), Nida Dar, Iram Javed, Umaima Sohail, Aliya Riaz, Sidra Nawaz (wk), Aiman Anwer, Diana Baig, Sadia Iqbal.

Thailand Women: Nattakan Chantam, Nattaya Boochatham, Nannapat Koncharoenkai (wk), Naruemol Chaiwai, Chanida Sutthiruang, Somnarin Tippoch (c), Onnicha Kamchomphu, Wongpaka Liengprasert, Ratanaporn Padunglerd, Suleeporn Laomi, Soraya Lateh.

Prediction

Pakistan to win.