Two days after Pakistan went into their final Group A game needing a win to keep their Women's Asia Cup alive, they delivered it in emphatic fashion. Pakistan beat Hong Kong by 72 runs at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, with left-arm spinner Nashra Sandhu the headline act, and the result sends them into a semi-final against Sri Lanka on September 11.
Batting first, Pakistan were held to 143 for 8, with Shawaal Zulfiqar top-scoring on 47 after the middle order again wobbled — a recurring issue in this campaign rather than a one-off. It was not, on paper, an imposing total to defend against a Hong Kong side that had already beaten Pakistan's group placement into question. What followed turned the game into a rout anyway.
Nashra Sandhu returned figures of 4-0-7-6 — six wickets for seven runs off her four overs — as Hong Kong were bowled out for just 71 in 19 overs, with Chan top-scoring on 30 in a chase that never got going. Sandhu's spell is the best bowling figures by a Pakistan bowler in Women's T20I cricket, bettering the 5 for 13 Omaima Sohail took against Sri Lanka in Sylhet in 2022. It is also the first six-wicket haul by a Pakistan bowler in the format.
The win was Pakistan's second in three Group A games, enough to see them finish runners-up behind an unbeaten India, who had already sealed top spot. Hong Kong end the tournament without a win, bottom of Group A. Confirmation of the semi-final draw means Pakistan face Group B winners Sri Lanka at the same Dubai venue on September 11, while India's semi-final against the Group B runner-up follows the outcome of the Bangladesh–UAE decider.
Analysis: a semi-final against Sri Lanka, who arrive unbeaten and fresh off closing out their own group campaign without a loss, is about as hard a assignment as Pakistan could have drawn from this position. Sandhu's spell shows their bowling has a genuine matchwinner in the right conditions, but a middle order that has struggled for runs across the group stage will need a more convincing total against a Sri Lankan attack that has looked tighter than Hong Kong's all tournament. Pakistan's route to the final now runs through the side most in-form in the competition, not the easier path a weaker group draw might have offered.
Sri Lanka face Pakistan on September 11, with the earlier semi-final on September 10 completing the final-four picture. Track build-up and live scores on SportGod's live matches page, check AI-powered match predictions ahead of the knockouts, and build fantasy squads in SportGod's free contests.
Match figures, Sandhu's bowling record and the confirmed semi-final schedule are verified against same-day match reports from Dubai, current as of September 8, 2026.
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