India will begin their search for an ICC title with a high-voltage encounter against Pakistan in Women's T20 World Cup on February 12. Across sports, an India vs Pakistan clash always gets the fans involved and adds pressure on the players.
Even though India were beaten by Pakistan in their Asia Cup encounters after tinkering too much with the batting order and saving too many runs for the last, India have proved themselves a better T20I side as they have posed a challenge against heavyweights Australia and England.
With Women's Premier League auction just around the corner, there will be added motivation for players to bring their A game at Newlands, Cape Town.
Ahead of the important clash, Indian opener Smriti Mandhana has been all but ruled out of the campaign opener. Mandhana injured her finger in the warm-up clash against Australia. However, the good news is that skipper Harmanpreet Kaur seems to have recovered from her shoulder injury and is fit to play against Pakistan, stand-in coach Hrishikesh Kanitkar confirmed in the pre-match press conference.
India have had some time to acclimatise with South Africa conditions. They lost to South Africa in the tri-series final followed by a disappointing display against defending champions Australia in the warm-up game. But they returned to winning ways with a win against Bangladesh in their second warm-up game.
There are a lot of questions that need to be answered for India in all departments of the game. Indian pacers have not been impressive of late. Shikha Pandey is yet to pick up a wicket in the international arena since her comeback. Renuka Singh has not been at her best either.
The Cape Town pitch is expected to Indian spinners. It will be interesting to see how many spinners Harmanpreet goes ahead with since she is unlikely to risk a shoulder injury. She will have an option in Shafali Verma who bowled well in inaugural Under-19 T20 World Cup earlier this year and led India to victory.
In Mandhana’s absence, Jemimah Rodrigues may open the innings. Also, Yastika Bhatia may get a promotion up the order. India need their hard-hitting teenagers Shafali and Richa Ghosh to provide the acceleration.
On the other hand, Pakistan were humbled by Australia in their preparatory series before the mega event. Like India, they beat Bangladesh in the warm-up games but lost to hosts South Africa.
India and Pakistan have gone up against each other six times. India have emerged victoriously on four occasions.
Squads:
India: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Yastika Bhatia, Richa Ghosh, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harleen Deol, Deepti Sharma, Devika Vaidya, Radha Yadav, Renuka Thakur, Anjali Sarvani, Pooja Vastrakar, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Shikha Pandey.
Pakistan: Bismah Maroof (c), Aiman Anwar, Aliya Riaz, Ayesha Naseem, Sadaf Shamas, Fatima Sana, Javeria Wadood, Muneeba Ali, Nashra Sundhu, Nida Dar, Omaima Sohail, Sadia Iqbal, Sidra Amin, Sidra Nawaz, Tuba Hassan.
