Pakistan through to women's cricket semis

Guangzhou: Openers Nida Rashid and Javeria Wadood guided favorites Pakistan to the semifinals with a nine-wicket win over China in the Asian Games women's Twenty20 cricket tournament on Monday.

Both Pakistan batters made 27 runs each before Mei Chunhua had Rashid trapped leg before wicket when Pakistan needed just one run for victory.

Wadood, who was twice dropped during her unbeaten innings, hit the winning boundary as Pakistan achieved the victory target in 12.2 overs after restricting China to 60-5 off its 20 overs.

The win also earned Pakistan a place in Thursday's semifinals as one of the two seeded teams in the tournament.

Bangladesh, which plays Japan in Monday's other match, is the other seeded team from Pool B.

"China did well, but I guess our international exposure is better and that's why we came good today," Rashid said.

"Their fielding is good and they have some good fast bowlers, but they need to improve their batting."

China had one bright moment while they batted when Huang Zhuo (14) hit the first six of the tournament when she lofted Pakistan captain Sana Mir over mid-off boundary.

Opener Zhang Mei also scored 14 off 32 balls, but Pakistan's experienced bowlers did not give up many loose deliveries once its star batter Sun Huan was yorked by Masooma Junaid (3) with the total on 26.

"I felt it was a match between young and a mature team and there was a difference in terms of technique and tactics," Chinese captain Wang Meng said.

Rashid was impressed with the way the Chinese women competed against her team.

"It didn't look to me as if they were playing for the first time against major opponents," Rashid said.

"They were talking to each other and trying to place fielders at the right positions which shows they are learning this game."

New ball bowler Asmavia Iqbal, who was also among the wickets with 1-17, hoped to win gold for Pakistan — especially in the absence of India from the competition.

"If we do all our basics right and the level of competition, we have in this tournament I hope we go back with gold," she said.

Pakistan and Bangladesh are likely to meet in Friday's final while China hopes to get at least a bronze.