Harmanpreet’s India holds the aces against Nida’s Pakistan in Friday’s blockbuster
The Women’s Asia Cup is set for a blockbuster start when defending champion India takes on Pakistan in a primetime clash here on Friday, with the eight competing teams hoping to firm up their combinations ahead of the T20 World Cup in October.
Harmanpreet Kaur’s India is the team to beat, having won the competition three out of four times in the T20 version and each of the four times in 50over format.
Additionally, India is also the most successful team in the Women’s Asia Cup T20 with 17 wins in 20 matches. It beat Bangladesh in the final of the last edition in 2022.
India’s record against Pakistan has also been stellar in the shortest format with 11 wins against three defeats in 14 matches so far and Harmanpreet’s side will lean on it in addition to the rich form shown in recent outings to clinch the GroupA clash here.
While India is coming off a 11 draw against South Africa earlier this month with the second of the three T20Is being washed out, Pakistan will be short on gametime as well as confidence since its last outing was in England in May when the hosts blanked it 30.
Smriti Mandhana’s rich form with the bat will be India’s greatest weapon at the top of the order, but the biggest gain from recent allformat outings has been the way their bowling has shaped up, with pacers and spinners putting on a combined show.
India pacer Pooja Vastrakar’s eight wickets across three outings against South Africa indicate her form but additionally, Radha Yadav’s successful return to the mix of spinners has been encouraging. The spin attack also includes Deepti Sharma, Sajeevan Sajana and the sprightly Shreyanka Patil.
Even though Pakistan retained Nida Dar as skipper for the Asia Cup, the squad has undergone significant overhaul since the debacle in England.
Three players, Iram Javed, Omaima Sohail, Syeda Aroob Shah, who have not played any matches so far this year, were included with the uncapped Tasmia Rubab while six others were dropped.
Also placed in GroupA are Nepal and the United
Arab Emirates which will face off here earlier in the day at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium.
The top two teams from the group will play in the semifinals.
The teams (from):
India: Harmanpreet Kaur (Capt.), Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh (wk), Uma Chetry (wk), Pooja Vastrakar, Deepti Sharma, Arundhati Reddy, Renuka Singh, D. Hemalatha, Asha Sobhana, Radha Yadav, Shreyanka Patil and Sajeevan Sajana.
Pakistan: Nida Dar (Capt.), Aliya Riaz, Diana Baig, Fatima Sana, Gull Feroza, Iram Javed, Muneeba Ali, Najiha Alvi (wk), Nashra Sandhu, Omaima Sohail, Sadia Iqbal, Sidra Amin, Syeda Aroob Shah, Tasmia Rubab and Tuba Hassan.
Match starts at 7 p.m. (IST).
We always enjoy playing against Pakistan but each and every team is important. Wherever we play, we want to play good cricket and we will follow the same method HARMANPREET