India faces a must-win situation against arch-rivals Pakistan in the ICC Women’s T20 Cup at Dubai International Stadium on Sunday. India has dominated their neighbours in women’s cricket with 12 wins against three losses but the situation is entirely different.
India will be under immense pressure after a 58-run loss to New Zealand in their opening encounter on Friday. India was dismal with the ball leaking too many runs in the powerplay and slog overs. Chasing a target of 161 was always going to be challenging and the batters succumbed under pressure as Harmanpreet Kaur top-scored with just 15.
India will be looking to open an account in the tournament in style against Pakistan with tougher games coming against Asia Cup Champions Sri Lanka and six-time Women’s T20 World Cup champions, Australia. India has to earn points and up the net run rate after a one-sided loss to the Kiwis. They will look to put the highly talked about pre-tournament process into practice.
Pakistan, who have never made it out of the group stages in eight previous attempts, beat Sri Lanka by 31 runs in their World Cup opener on Thursday. The win came in Sharjah where spinners Sadia Iqbal (3 wickets), Nashra Sandhu, Omaima Sohail, and player of the match Fatima Sana all took two each for Pakistan to restrict SL to 85/9 after making 116. Skipper Sana also smashed 30 runs in 20 balls in the game to lead from the front and announce an aggressive brand of batting to keep tabs on other teams.
The wicket in Sharjah was slow and offered a low bounce. In contrast, the Dubai wicket has stayed true so far. However, India playing an afternoon game may put spinners more into play. West Indies managed just 118 against South Africa in an afternoon game in Dubai on Friday which Proteas overhauled without any loss. So, batting first can be tricky on this wicket.
Aware of the importance of the game, India opted to practice fully on Saturday despite a night game on Friday. It was obvious head coach Amol Muzumder and bowling coach Aavishkar Salvi both former Mumbai players wanted the team to fine-tune a few key areas under searing heat in the afternoon, before the high-voltage game. The pulsating India-Pak encounter promises a nearly full house with a huge expat population of Indians and Pakistanis living in the UAE.
Pakistan team who had a day to recover after the first game were first to start a practice session at the ICC Academy 2 Ground at Dubai Sports City. The Indian team also followed soon as a few players exchanged pleasantries.
Predicted XIs for India and Pakistan:
India could bring in all-rounder Sajeevan Sajana for Shreyanka Patil, given the latter struggled against New Zealand, conceding 25 runs in 3 wicketless overs.
India predicted XI: Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur(c), Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh(wk), Deepti Sharma, Arundhati Reddy, Pooja Vastrakar, Sajeevan Sajana, Asha Sobhana, Renuka Thakur Singh
Pakistan are unlikely to deter from the winning combination.
Pakistan predicted XI: Muneeba Ali(wK), Gull Feroza, Sidra Amin, Nida Dar, Aliya Riaz, Omaima Sohail, Fatima Sana(c), Tuba Hassan, Nashra Sandhu, Diana Baig, Sadia Iqbal.
Head to Head:
In T20Is:
Matches played - 15
India won - 12
Pakistan won - 3
In T20 World Cups:
Matches played - 7
India won - 5
Pakistan won - 2
