Sports

Pakistan Captain Fatima Sana Calls for All-Round Improvement Ahead of Asia Cup Semi-Final Against Sri Lanka

By icc

Pakistan captain Fatima Sana has acknowledged her team must lift its performance across multiple areas if they are to overcome Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup semi-final scheduled for Friday. Pakistan secured their place in the semi-final with a dominant 72-run win over Hong Kong, China on Monday, a victory highlighted by spinner Nashra Sundhu's six-wicket haul, which set a new record for the best T20I bowling figures by any Pakistan bowler. Despite this strong result, Fatima emphasized that her side needs to sharpen several aspects of their game before facing an unbeaten Sri Lankan team at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. Speaking after the match against Hong Kong, China, Fatima said the batting unit in particular needs work. "I think in the batting side we need more, like strike rotation in the batting, and we need more partnerships. And we will try to sit together and discuss these things," she said. She added that since the semi-final is a knockout match, the team plans to meet and review multiple aspects of their game beforehand. Meanwhile, Hong Kong, China, who failed to secure a win in any of their three matches at the tournament, still received praise from their captain, Natasha Miles, for their overall performance against some of the top teams in women's cricket. The team had also come close to defeating Thailand in their opening match, losing by just six runs. Miles described the tournament as a valuable learning experience. "It's been super. Always playing this standard of cricket is going to test you and it's going to get you to learn more about your game, about yourselves," she said. "It's been a really fun campaign, exciting, and hopefully we get to come and do this a few more times."