Pakistan Women Win Asian Games Bronze by 31 Runs

Pakistan women beat Bangladesh by 31 runs to win Asian Games cricket bronze on September 22. They made 145 for 8 at Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin and held Bangladesh to 114 for 7.

Captain Fatima Sana scored 45 off 30 after a slide from 46 without loss to 67 for 5, and Umm-e-Hani took 3 for 10. The medal is Pakistan’s first in Asian Games cricket since gold at Incheon in 2014.

How Pakistan Turned 67 for 5 Into 145

Pakistan won the toss and batted. Gull Feroza, keeping wicket, hit six fours in 31 off 23, and with Shawaal Zulfiqar she took the openers to 46 without loss in 6.4 overs. The powerplay closed at 44 without loss in six.

Then the middle fell in a heap. Nahida Akter bowled Feroza, Shorna Akter removed Saira Jabeen and Zulfiqar, Ritu Moni had Eyman Fatima caught for a three-ball duck, and Sanjida Akter Meghla bowled Ayesha Zafar. Five wickets went for 21 runs, and at 11.4 overs Pakistan were 67 for 5.

Sana, a right-arm fast bowler from Karachi who turns 25 in November, walked in there. She hit three fours and three sixes in 45 off 30, strike rate 150, and added 67 off 43 balls for the sixth wicket with Aliya Riaz, whose 25 off 22 included two sixes. Fifty of that stand came off 33 balls. Pakistan reached 90 for 5 after 15 overs, then took 55 off the last five, even as Bangladesh conceded only seven in the 20th, when Tuba Hassan was run out and Sana was caught off the final ball.

Nahida, Shorna and Ritu took two wickets each. The innings closed at 145 for 8, extras 8, Tasmia Rubab 1 not out. Umm-e-Hani and Nashra Sandhu did not bat. The bronze playoff match centre and scorecard records it as WT20I no. 3025.

PAKISTAN’S WEEK IN NISSHIN

• September 17: Pakistan beat Thailand by 3 wickets in an 11-over quarter-final, chasing 92 and getting there in 10.4 overs after Thailand made 91 for 4.
• September 20: Sri Lanka chased 178 with 8 wickets and 13 balls to spare, Chamari Athapaththu 83 not out, after Pakistan posted 177 for 4 with Ayesha Zafar 71.
• September 22: Pakistan beat Bangladesh by 31 runs in the third-place match and took bronze.

The Thailand chase was a scare, two balls to spare, seven wickets down. The Sri Lanka loss two days later was the one that kept them off the gold medal match. Bronze was the remaining job.

Umm-e-Hani’s 3 for 10, a Career Best

Umm-e-Hani, the off-spinner, opened the defence with Tasmia Rubab and took two of the first three wickets. She had Juairiya Ferdous caught by Saira Jabeen at 12 for 1 in 2.1 overs, then Sobhana Mostary at 20 for 3 in 4.1. Her third was Shorna Akter, caught by Sana for 6, and that made her figures 3 for 10 from four overs, one of them a wicket-maiden, economy 2.50. Those are her career-best T20I figures, better than 2 for 28 against Sri Lanka in Dambulla earlier in 2026.

PAKISTAN BOWLING IN THE CHASE

Saira Jabeen took all three catches in that opening burst, including one at the cover boundary to dismiss Dilara Akter for 12. Ayesha Zafar trapped captain Nigar Sultana lbw for 25 off 30 in the 14th over. Sana had Ritu Moni caught, her 31st T20I wicket of 2026, and Nashra had Rabeya Khan caught with Bangladesh on 93. The required rate had already gone. The 45 also lifted Sana’s 2026 T20I run tally to 540, on top of those 31 wickets, a year that now includes this bronze.

Bangladesh Slip to 20 for 3 and Stall

Bangladesh’s chase never recovered from 20 for 3 in 4.1 overs. Nigar and Sharmin Akhter added 47 for the fourth wicket and got the score to 67, which was still only where Pakistan had been when five down. Nigar’s 25 off 30 used 30 balls the chase did not have. Sharmin carried her bat for 46 off 45 with four fours and no six, strike rate 102, and watched the other end empty: Shorna 6, Ritu 3, Rabeya 4, Nahida Akter 10 not out off 6. Extras were 2 wides. The innings closed at 114 for 7, 31 runs short of Pakistan’s 145.

Sharmin was there at the end and still short of a shot that moved the required rate. Bangladesh had already been bowled out for 81 in 15.4 overs by India in the semi-final on September 20, when Shafali Verma made 100 not out off 49 and India posted 195 for 4. The bronze match asked them to chase 146. They finished 32 runs under that target with three wickets standing, which is a different kind of shortfall from a collapse, a chase that never found a gear after the fourth wicket.

Pakistan’s Golds Came Before India Entered

The bronze is Pakistan’s third women’s cricket medal at the Asian Games and the first since 2014. Both earlier medals were gold, and both were won against Bangladesh. India did not send a women’s team to Guangzhou 2010 or Incheon 2014. When India arrived at Hangzhou in 2023, they won gold. Pakistan finished fourth. The women’s cricket winners from every Asian Games still list Pakistan on top of the women’s gold count, two to India’s one, with this bronze now sitting under those titles.

PAKISTAN WOMEN VS BANGLADESH AT THE ASIAN GAMES

Every time these two have met for an Asian Games medal, they have been playing for one. There is no group-stage footnote. Cricket was dropped from the Jakarta 2018 programme, so Incheon was the last podium before Hangzhou, and Hangzhou was the first chance to add to those golds. They did not. Nisshin is the second.

Obviously, not having the Indians was a big plus for us because we were the most experienced team in the competition in their absence. A win is a win and it has made us all very confident and proud.

Sana Mir, Pakistan captain, after the 2010 Asian Games final

In that Guangzhou final on November 19, 2010, Bangladesh made 92 for 9 and Pakistan chased 93 without loss in 15.4 overs. Nida Dar took 3 for 16 and then hit 51 not out off 43, Javeria Khan 39 not out. Sana Mir, then captain, said the quiet part after the gold. Four years later in Incheon, Pakistan made 97 for 6 and beat Bangladesh again, that time by 4 runs on Duckworth-Lewis in a wet final. The Karachi-born captain’s official playing record now has a bronze next to a year in which she has been the side’s main run-scorer and wicket-taker in T20Is.

What the Hangzhou Bronze Loss Looked Like

On September 25, 2023, at the ZJUT Cricket Field, Pakistan made 64 for 9 in 20 overs. Aliya Riaz top-scored with 17 off 18. Shorna Akter took 3 for 16. Bangladesh chased 65 for 5 in 18.2 overs, Shorna 14 not out off 33, and Nashra Sandhu’s 3 for 10 was not enough. Bangladesh won by 5 wickets and took bronze. Pakistan left fourth.

Fatima Sana was not in that XI. A right thigh injury that ruled her out of Hangzhou ended her 2023 Asian Games before it started, and Sadia Iqbal replaced her on September 16, 2023. Umm-e-Hani was in that squad. Aliya Riaz was in that squad. Nashra was the bowler with 3 for 10 in a loss; in Nisshin she went 1 for 19 in a win, and Hani took the 3 for 10 instead. Shorna, again, took two wickets. The names have not changed as much as the medal has.

PAKISTAN WOMEN AT THE ASIAN GAMES

1. November 19, 2010: Beat Bangladesh by 10 wickets in the Guangzhou final and take gold, Nida Dar 51 not out and 3 for 16.
2. September 26, 2014: Beat Bangladesh by 4 runs on Duckworth-Lewis in the Incheon final, Pakistan 97 for 6, and defend the gold.
3. September 25, 2023: Lose the Hangzhou bronze match to Bangladesh by 5 wickets after making 64 for 9, and finish fourth.
4. September 22, 2026: Beat Bangladesh by 31 runs in Nisshin, 145 for 8 against 114 for 7, and take bronze.

Across four Asian Games they have played 13 matches, won 9, lost 3, with one no-result. The 2026 ledger is 2-1. Against Bangladesh in T20Is the record, complete through this match, is 17 wins and 5 losses in 22. The Asian Games slice of that rivalry is four medal matches and no other kind.

Sri Lanka Ended Pakistan’s Path to Gold

Bronze does not rewrite September 20. Pakistan made 177 for 4 and still lost, Sri Lanka 178 for 2 in 17.5 overs, Athapaththu unbeaten on 83. That is the result that put Sri Lanka in the gold medal match against India on September 22 at the same ground, a rematch of the Hangzhou final, which India won by 19 runs. Pakistan’s remaining fixture was Bangladesh, and they won it.

The Pakistan Cricket Board put the bronze on its account the morning of the match, naming Sana’s 45 and Hani’s 3 for 10. At home the win is already being treated as a medal to parade, which is what a podium after a semi-final exit becomes. It does not turn 177 for 4 into a final.

Pakistan clinch bronze after beating Bangladesh by 31 runs 🥉

Skipper Fatima Sana top-scored with 45 before Umm-e-Hani shone with the ball, claiming 3-10 in her 4 overs 🙌#PAKvBAN | #BackOurGirls | #AsianGames pic.twitter.com/CuVHwmH7dz

— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) September 22, 2026

Eight teams started the women’s tournament on September 17. Bangladesh reached the semi-finals without bowling a ball in the quarters, their match against China abandoned, and they went through as the higher-ranked side. India beat Japan in five overs. Sri Lanka beat Malaysia by 86 runs. Pakistan squeezed past Thailand. The last four were the four Test-playing sides, and the last two on the podium are the two that lost their semis. India and Sri Lanka play for gold later on September 22. Pakistan leave Nisshin with bronze, a third women’s cricket medal, and a result against Bangladesh that finally sits on the other side of Hangzhou.

Frequently Asked Questions

Did cricket feature at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta?

No. Cricket was taken off the Jakarta 2018 programme after golds in 2010 and 2014, then returned at Hangzhou in 2023 with full ICC T20I status, which the Guangzhou and Incheon matches did not have. That gap is why Incheon 2014 and Hangzhou 2023 sit next to each other on Pakistan’s medal record even though 12 calendar years separate Nisshin from the last gold.

Who scored Pakistan’s runs in the 2010 Asian Games women’s final?

Nida Dar, 51 not out off 43 with seven fours, and Javeria Khan, 39 not out off 51, chased 93 without being separated after Bangladesh made 92 for 9 at Guanggong International Cricket Stadium on November 19, 2010. Dar also took 3 for 16 in that final, the all-round template Sana and Hani split between them in Nisshin.

Why was Fatima Sana absent from the Hangzhou bronze match?

She suffered a right-thigh injury during the second ODI against South Africa in September 2023, an MRI confirmed it, and the PCB medical panel ruled her out of the 19th Asian Games. Left-arm spinner Sadia Iqbal replaced her in the 15-member squad on September 16, 2023, with Nida Dar captaining that trip. Sana, born November 8, 2001, now captains the side that took bronze in her first Asian Games as leader.

What is Pakistan women’s T20I record against Bangladesh?

Pakistan have won 17 of 22 T20Is against Bangladesh, with 5 losses and no ties, in a record complete through WT20I no. 3025, this bronze match. The Asian Games portion of that series is four meetings, all medal matches, Pakistan ahead 3-1 after Nisshin reversed Hangzhou.