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India’s captain Harmanpreet Kaur has made the team’s approach clear ahead of their ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 opening encounter against Pakistan. Harmanpreet aims to play ‘fearless cricket’ against the arch-rivals Pakistan at Edgbaston, Birmingham, on June 14. The skipper made the comments India lost their second warm-up match to hosts England at Sophia Gardens, Cardiff.
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"We are really looking forward to that (Pakistan match)," Harmanpreet said in the post-match presentation.
"These two practice games have given us a lot of confidence and even today, even though we lost the game, but how Richa batted and I think that's a big positive for us.
"That's a big belief that if we stay on the pitch, we can turn the game anytime and I think these two (warm-up) games have given a lot of confidence and hopefully we'll play our fearless cricket on our first game."
The only positive in the successful run chase for India was wicketkeeper-batter Richa Ghosh returning to form with a 36-ball 68, laced with nine fours and a couple of sixes. But she fell on the fourth ball of the final over to an in-form Linsey Smith and India were bowled out for 166 in 19.5 overs. Harmanpreet lauded Richa but rued lack of partnerships in the run chase.
"It's about partnerships and I think we missed the chance and only Richa and a few other players were there to get a few partnerships," Harmanpreet noted.
"In T20 cricket, if you want to win you have to get a few partnerships in the middle overs and today we missed that. But it was good to see how Richa batted today."
India vs Pakistan Women’s T20 World Cup head-to-head
The two teams have locked horns eight times in T20 World Cup history. India have beaten Pakistan six out of eight times. Their previous defeat at the event to Pakistan came a decade ago in Delhi. India lost the match by two runs. Earlier, in 2012 edition, India lost to Pakistan by one run. In the last three meetings, India have beaten Pakistan comprehensively. The last time they faced Pakistan was in 2024 T20 World Cup, India chased down the target of 106 with six wickets in hand and seven balls to spare.
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