Gardner crushes Pakistan with four wins.

Ashleigh Gardner took four wickets in Australia's dominant bowling performance against Pakistan in Group A at the Dubai International Stadium. This was Australia's 14th consecutive T20 World Cup victory. Georgia Wareham and Annabel Sutherland each took two wickets to help Gardner get 4 for 21 and bowl Pakistan out for 82. The holders of the 2024 Women's T20 World Cup were able to smash that target with 54 balls remaining on the better-scoring of the two venues.

The absence of captain Fatima Sana made the task even more difficult for Pakistan, who were already up against a team they had never defeated in 15 attempts. While Sadaf Shamas and Iram Javed made their tournament debuts, stand-in skipper Muneeba Ali took the place of the inconsistent opener Gull Feroza.

Only a few missed catches were the extent of Australia's assistance in this lopsided matchup. They chose to chase, but they were accurate with the ball, and after the PowerPlay, they had their opponents at 23 for 2. Muneeba was caught at midwicket by Sophie Molineux, who got the ball first. Shamas was then caught by Alyssa Healy, who stood up to the stumps and caught seamer Megan Schutt.

The fact that it took Pakistan 49 balls to score their first boundary, which was scored by Nida Dar, best exemplifies the level of difficulty faced by the batters. By that time, they had also lost Omaima Sohail and Sidra Amin, respectively, to Sutherland and Wareham. Dar's concise undertaking was stopped when she ventured out to Wareham and was baffled.

It wasn't until her third over, the 17th of the match, that Gardner got one of the wickets. An attempt to slog sweep failed, and Iram Javed was caught deep in the middle of the wicket. Then, at that point, in her last finished, Gardner had Tuba Hassan befuddled off the principal ball prior to adding the wickets of Syeda Aroob and Nashra Sandhu with the last two wads of her spell. The only batter to show any resistance to Australia's unstoppable force was Aliya Riaz (26 off 32). She was the final batter dismissed, scoring three of her side's four boundaries.

Australia's otherwise routine day at work was marred by two errors. Tayla Vlaeminck, a seamer, was forced to play in place of Grace Harris due to a shoulder injury. The 25-year-old, whose brief career has been plagued by injuries, lasted only four balls into her second T20 World Cup game. Her first one was in 2018; she slid to field the ball, but her knee got stuck in the ground and she fell over. Australia had another injury concern late in the game when captain Healy retired hurt with a suspected calf problem just before the chase was over. Details are still pending.

Australia played the game with ruthless efficiency despite these two concerns. Beth Mooney took Sadia Iqbal for three fours in an over, matching Pakistan's total of boundaries in just the third over of the chase. Australia's captain Healy is now in charge of finding limits, and they had 46 PowerPlay players when the left-hander fell. She scored 37 points out of 23, and then she left with 13 runs to get.