Nashra Sandhu six-fer seals Pakistan's semi-final spot

Nashra Sandhu became the first Pakistan bowler to claim six wickets in a Women’s T20I, wrecking Hong Kong, China’s chase in their Women’s Asia Cup 2026 fixture and securing a semi-final spot.

After the Powerplay, HKC had advanced to 28/2 in their pursuit of 144 when left-arm spinner Sandhu entered the game. Mariko Hill was out for her third consecutive duck, and Natasha Miles was caught by Sadia Iqbal off her very first ball. Both openers were bowled out one after the other.

Becapped while bowling, as she usually is, Sandhu first broke the brief resistance between the left-right pair of Yasmin Daswani and Kary Chan - the only real fightback their batting offered - and two overs later, bagged Marina Lamplough and Maryam Bibi in the space of four balls. That reduced them to 40/5, kicking out any chance of a miraculous comeback.

After that, they slipped quickly. After taking out Shanzeen Shahzad and Alison Sui with a lot of flight, Sandhu was on a hat trick. She gave the ball a lot of air but also slipped in a few faster ones, one of which led to her sixth wicket off her last ball.

It was her maiden five-for in T20Is, eventually turning out to be the best figures by a Pakistan Women’s T20I bowler, and the second six-fer of this tournament, after Chamari Athapaththu’s 7-5 against Indonesia last week. She also became the third Pakistan bowler since Omaima Sohail (2022) and Nida Dar (2018) to score five for in a Women's T20I match against Sri Lanka.

Chan persevered, reaching 30 when Ayesha Zafar removed her from the game in the sixteenth over. Joyleen Kaur took the final wicket, bowling HKC out for 71 runs with no survivors, 72 runs short of their target.

However, Kaur had a better time during the middle of the evening. Only four Pakistan batters reached double digits during HKC's 4-19 innings, including opener Shawaal Zulfiqar, who scored the most runs with 47 (35). From 92/2, they slipped to 101/6, giving HKC reasons to smile. However, Pakistan continued to score above 140, a total that would have appeared intimidating to the HKC lineup from the outset. In the end, it was much more than they could handle.

On September 11, Pakistan will now face Sri Lanka in the second semi-final.