PTI
Cape Town, February 11
India’s moment of truth has arrived as they take on arch-rivals Pakistan in their Women’s T20 World Cup opening match here tomorrow.
An India-Pak contest always creates excitement but in the last five years, the gulf between the two teams has widened, with India challenging the supremacy of Australia and England on a consistent basis.
3 In T20 World Cups, India and Pakistan have faced each other three times, with India winning all the three matches.
But nothing can be taken for granted — in their last meeting in the Asia Cup, Pakistan had got the better of an experimental India team.
India come into the tournament after losing the recent tri-series final to South Africa. They also lost the warm-up game to Australia but managed to beat Bangladesh.
They are expected to reach the semifinals of the ICC event again but if they are to beat the mighty Australia to the trophy, they will need to up their game in all departments. Barring Renuka Singh, the bowling unit doesn’t inspire much confidence. Veteran Shikha Pandey is yet to pick a wicket since her comeback last month and will be fired up to provide early breakthroughs in the showpiece event. The performance of the spinners has also been below-par of late.
Big 2
In the batting department, India rely heavily on Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana. Shafali Verma, fresh from leading India to the inaugural U-19 World Cup title, will be keen to prove the doubters wrong with consistent performances and take some pressure off her seniors.
While Jemimah Rodrigues has not been able to play an impactful knock since her comeback, the role of pace bowling all-rounder Pooja Vastrakar and Richa Ghosh at the death will also be critical in the tournament. — PTI
Mandhana ruled out, Harman fit to play
Cape Town: India’s vice-captain Smriti Mandhana was today ruled out of the team’s opening game against Pakistan as she is “still recovering” from a finger injury, stand-in coach Hrishikesh Kanitkar said. However, Harmanpreet Kaur has recovered fully from the shoulder niggle she picked up during the tri-series against West Indies and South Africa. PTI
England breeze past West Indies
Paarl: An unbeaten 67-run stand for the fourth wicket between veteran all-rounder Nat Sciver-Brunt and captain Heather Knight helped England defeat West Indies by seven wickets in an ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Group B match here today. Chasing 135 for victory, the two England stalwarts overhauled the target inside 15 overs.
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