ICC Women’s T20 World Cup: Pakistan won toss and decided to bat first against India

• T20 World Cup match between Pakistan and India on Sunday at Newlands.
• Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat first.
• 36-year-old veteran Nida Dar is a crucial player for Pakistan.

In the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup match between Pakistan and India on Sunday at Newlands in Cape Town, Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat first.

In the 13 women’s T20 international matches played between India and Pakistan during the past 14 years, India has a 10-3 winning record.

All of the games have been in multi-team tournaments due to political unrest.

The lone game not played on neutral ground occurred at the Asia Cup in Delhi, India, in 2016, where Pakistan prevailed in a game marred by rain.

In their most recent meeting, which took place in Sylhet, Bangladesh, in October 2022 and was also part of the Asia Cup, Pakistan prevailed. But India eventually won the tournament.

India, who has a better overall record in women’s cricket, advanced to the 2020 World T20 final before falling to the tournament’s hosts, Australia.

The Indian team’s captain Harmanpreet stated that she anticipated a challenging World Cup.

“Though Australia go into the tournament as favourites, there is very little separating other teams, promising close matches and high-class performances,” she said.

Kaur claimed that the country’s young athletes, who triumphed at the Under-19 World Cup in South Africa last month, served as an example for her team.

Shafali Verma and Richa Ghosh, two players from the junior team, now on the senior team.

“We have depth in batting and enough variety in bowling to do what is required against top teams,” said Kaur.

Despite losing both of its completed matches against the best women’s team in the world, Pakistan’s captain Bismah Maroof, one of the centrally contracted players for her nation, claimed a series in Australia last month had been excellent World Cup preparation.

“The series provided the players a great opportunity to prepare themselves and express their talent,” said Maroof. “The pitches in South Africa are likely to be of the same nature as we got in Australia.”

36-year-old veteran Nida Dar is a crucial player for Pakistan. She scored 56 unanswered and took two for 23 with her off-spinners during the victory against India in Sylhet last year, making her the game’s MVP.

Dar excelled with both bat and ball as Pakistan defeated Bangladesh in a warm-up game on Monday, but Pakistan was defeated by the South African hosts the next day.

Prior to Wednesday’s 52-run victory against Bangladesh, India’s batting struggled in their first warm-up match against Australia. Richa Ghosh made 91 runs without being bowled.

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