LAHORE - Nida Dar’s quickfire 36-run knock, followed by a tight bowling display powered Pakistan Women to beat South Africa in the third Pak- South Africa T20I to clean-sweep the three-match series. 

Put into bat first, Pakistan accumulated 150 runs for the loss of five wickets in the allotted 20 overs, courtesy of a combined effort from their batters. Pakistan open­ers Shawaal Zulfiqar and in-form Sidra Ameen laid a solid foundation with an anchoring 41-run partner­ship. The pair batted sensi­bly before Shawaal faltered against Nonkululeko Mlaba in the seventh over as South Africa got their first break­through. Shawaal scored 18 off 19 balls with the help of three boundaries. 

Sidra Amin was then joined by experienced Bismah Ma­roof at the crease and the pair knitted an important 49-run partnership for the second wicket. Sidra, who scored a match-winning half-century in the second T20I, failed to replicate the feat in the third T20I as she fell for a run-a-ball 39, which featured four boundaries. 

Following Sidra’s dis­missal, the experienced duo of Bismah and skipper Nida Dar bolstered the total with a sensational 49-run part­nership. Dar dominated the important fifth-wicket stand with belligerent hitting while Bismah rotated the strike before both perished in the 19th over. 

Bismah played an anchor­ing 39-run knock in 34 deliv­eries while Nida Dar scored a quickfire 36 off just 20 balls, laced with five boundar­ies and a six. Wicketkeeper batter Muneeaba Ali added valuable eight runs to Paki­stan’s total before perishing on the penultimate delivery of the innings. 

Tumi Sekhukhune led the bowling attack for South Africa Women with 2/24, followed by Nonkululeko Mlaba, Nadine de Klerk and Nondumiso Shanga, who made one scalp each.