India Women vs Pakistan Women: Preview, Probable XIs, Prediction
India Women will start their T20 World Cup campaign against Pakistan Women (Source: Twitter)
India Women are set to take on arch-nemesis Pakistan Women in a highly anticipated opening match of the Women's T20 World Cup 2023. The match is slated to take place on Sunday, February 12th, at the Newlands Cricket Ground in Cape Town and is expected to be a nail-biting encounter given the rarity of these two teams facing off against each other in ICC events.
Recently, India Women came up short in the final match of the Women's T20 Tri-series against South Africa, leaving much to be desired. However, the Women In Blue will put that disappointment behind them and focus on their biggest task of the year. Currently ranked 4th in the world in T20I, India Women managed to secure a resounding 52-run victory against Bangladesh in their last warm-up match.
India Women may face some hurdles with the absence of their star opener Smriti Mandhana, who suffered a finger injury during a training session. If Mandhana is unable to recover in time, the onus will fall on young players Shafali Verma and Yastika Bhatia to step up to the plate and deliver a solid performance.
On the other hand, Pakistan Women are coming on the back of a series losses against Ireland and Australia. Despite this, the unpredictable nature of the green shirts make them dark horses heading into the tournament.
The team heavily relies on their all-rounder Nida Dar, who emerged as the team's leading run-scorer and wicket-taker in 2022, making her the most valuable player on the team. She amassed as many as 396 runs and scalped 15 wickets in 16 T20Is last year. In their second warm-up match of the tournament, Pakistan Women suffered a 6-wicket defeat against South Africa.
When it comes to the head-to-head record between India Women and Pakistan Women, the Women In Blue hold the upper hand with ten victories compared to Pakistan's three.
Match Details
Date & Time: February 12, 6:30 PM IST
Venue: Newlands Cricket Ground, Cape Town
Live Telecast & Streaming: Star Sports Network & Disney+Hotstar
Pitch Report: As far as the pitch report goes, the first match of the T20 World Cup between South Africa Women and Sri Lanka Women indicated that the surface was spin-friendly. Both India and Pakistan have a wealth of talent in the spin department, and a high-scoring match doesn’t seem unlikely. Given the significance and pressure of the match, it can be surmised that the team that wins the toss would opt to bat first in order to establish a strong foundation and set the tone for the rest of the match.
Predicted Playing XI
India Women: Shafali Verma, Yastika Bhatia, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harleen Deol, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Pooja Vastrakar, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (wk), Renuka Thakur, Radha Yadav, Shikha Pandey
Pakistan Women: Muneeba Ali (wk), Sidra Ameen, Bismah Maroof (c), Nida Dar, Ayesha Naseem, Aliya Riaz, Omaima Sohail, Kainat Imtiaz, Fatima Sana, Tuba Hassan, Nashra Sandhu
Prediction
India Women are considered favourites because of their superior head-to-head record and current form.
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