Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by 31 runs: Women’s T20 World Cup – as it happened

That’s it for our live coverage of Pakistan’s victory against Sri Lanka on the opening day of the Women’s T20 World Cup.

We’ll be back on Friday with India’s match against New Zealand.

We hope you enjoyed our coverage of the match in Sharjah and can join us again on Friday.

For now, though – from me, Kevin Hand – it’s goodbye.

“We wanted a lot of runs on the board but we didn’t get it, unfortunately, but our whole team backs each other and we maximised our target,” the Pakistan captain said. “We want moment from here and we will try to win as many as we can.”

“I would like to congratulate young captain Fatima Sana, she did wonderfully well,” the Sri Lanka captain said at the post-match ceremony. “We struggled to chase in these conditions and I hope we can bounce back in the coming games.

“We bowled really good but we have to bat better. I feel we can create other shots because the track is slow and low. Even the outfield is slow. We have to be positive in the next three games. We have to play our fearless cricket. I know Australia [Sri Lanka’s next game] is a good team, but if we play well we can beat any team.”

“I’m very excited and thanks to my team and management because they supported me a lot,” the Pakistan captain told the post-match ceremony.

On her 30 off 20 with the bat, she added, “I believe in myself and try to back myself and try to be calm.”

And on claiming the wicket of her opposite number, Sana said, “We all know is a good player so I’m glad we got that wicket early.”

The stadium becomes a light show for the fans to herald the end of the game. It certainly felt like lights out at times for Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka finish on 85-9. What a start for Pakistan against one of the favourites.

The left-hander scoops