IND vs PAK LIVE Women’s T20 World Cup: Harmanpreet Kaur departs as Pakistan fight back

India’s ICC Women’s T20 World Cup campaign is gathering momentum at Edgbaston, thanks to a composed recovery led by Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur against Pakistan. After captain Harmanpreet Kaur won the toss and elected to bat first, India suffered early setbacks with the dismissals of Shafali Verma and Jemimah Rodrigues inside the Powerplay, allowing Pakistan’s bowlers to seize the early initiative.

However, Mandhana has anchored India’s fightback with a fluent half-century, blending elegance and aggression to wrest back control of the contest. Supported by Harmanpreet at the other end, the pair have steadied the innings and laid a strong platform for a late surge.

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The high-profile clash carries extra significance as India look to begin their Women’s T20 World Cup campaign on a winning note. Despite entering the tournament after a 2-1 T20I series defeat to England, the Women in Blue showed encouraging signs in the warm-up matches and arrived with renewed confidence following their recent ODI World Cup triumph.

History also favours India in this rivalry. They have won six of their eight previous Women’s T20 World Cup meetings against Pakistan and entered the contest unbeaten in the last three encounters between the sides in the tournament. With Mandhana leading the charge and Harmanpreet settling into her innings, India will now aim to capitalize on the platform and post a commanding total.

T20 Women’s World Cup India vs Pakistan: Playing XI

India: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh (wk), Deepti Sharma, Bharti S. Fulmali, Sree Charani, Kranti Gaud, Shreyanka Patil, Arundhati Reddy.

Pakistan: Fatima Sana (c), Gull Feroza, Muneeba Ali (wk), Ayesha Zafar, Saira Jabeen, Aliya Riaz, Natalia Pervaiz, Rameen Shamim, Nashra Sundhu, Tasmia Rubab, Sadia Iqbal.