Indian Women’s cricket team face off against arch-rivals Pakistan in their ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023 opener. Pakistan skipper Bismah Maroof won the toss and elected to bat first against India.
Smriti Mandhana has not been selected in India’s playing XI given her injury, with Yastika Bhatia partnering Shafali Verma instead.
For Pakistan, Diana Baig is absent, but skipper Maroof stated that it’s an opportunity for another player from her side to step up to the occasion.
After winning the toss, Maroof revealed that she chose to bat first because it seemed like a dry wicket and thus she wanted to put up a total on the board first.
“We’d like to bat first. It is a dry wicket, won’t change much so we’d like to put up a total," the Pakistani skipper told broadcasters during the toss.
Speaking on Diana’s absence, she said, “It is unlucky she is not here with us, but this is an opportunity for someone else to perform. We have the confidence because we won against India last time but conditions are different here."
Her opposite number Harmanpreet Kaur also stated that she would have liked to bat first.
“We wanted to bat because these wickets are a bit trick," said Kaur. Speaking on Smriti Mandhana’s absence, Harmanpreet said that she went with an extra batsman but gave a positive update stating that she will be fine.
“She will be fine but we have added an extra batter for today - Harleen in there, Shikha misses out. I think these wickets will help us, we are a very good bowling side. Our bowlers performed well in the tri-series before as well."
India vs Pakistan playing XIs:
India: Shafali Verma, Yastika Bhatia, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harleen Deol, Harmanpreet Kaur(c), Richa Ghosh(w), Deepti Sharma, Pooja Vastrakar, Radha Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Renuka Thakur Singh
Pakistan: Javeria Khan, Muneeba Ali(w), Bismah Maroof(c), Nida Dar, Sidra Ameen, Aliya Riaz, Ayesha Naseem, Fatima Sana, Aiman Anwer, Nashra Sandhu, Sadia Iqbal
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