ICC Women's World T20, India vs Pakistan Preview and Predicted Playing XI
Pakistan women were stunned by Australia in their opening fixture of WWT20 2018 by 57 runs.
Pakistan will now look to bounce back and keep their hopes alive when they face buoyant India Women in the fifth fixture of Women's World T20 at the Providence Stadium in Guyana on Sunday, November 11.
Both the teams have played 10 T20Is against each other with the Women in Blue outclassing the scoreline 8-2.
While in their most recent clash during Women's Asia Cup in June 2018, India inflicted a heavy defeat on Pakistan.
After electing to bat first, Pakistan had a disastrous day in batting as they were restricted a sub-par total of 72/7 in their quota of 20 overs and then conquered by the Indians in 16.1 overs with seven wickets to the sphere.
India Women
Indian Women started their world cup campaign with a bang and will certainly take a lot of confidence from their emphatic win in their opening encounter against White Ferns.
Batting
Harmanpreet Kaur's well constructed century (103 runs) in the previous game against New Zealand has certainly raised the expectations and hopes in Indian fans.
The skipper played a crucial and well-judged captain's knock to get the team out of woes and becomes the first Indian player to score a century in T20 Internationals. The charismatic skipper will be expected to replicate it against Pakistan.
Jemimah Rodrigues perfectly used the opportunity and went on to score 59 runs off 45 balls to support her skipper in middle.
After her splendid performance against the White Ferns, she is expected to play a similar role against Pakistan as well.
Except these two, India will also bank on the likes of their openers Taniya Bhatia and Smriti Mandhana to put up a crucial opening partnership and lay down a strong platform for others to follow.
Bowling
When it comes to bowlers, Indians have a formidable attack which capable of thrashing any opponent on their day.
Poonam Yadav and Dayalan Hemlatha were the pick of the Indian lot with three wickets each and these two will pose the main threat to opponents.
While Radha Yadav also chipped in with two wickets and she will be expected to rattle the Pakistan top order early on.
Expected Playing XI
Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Smriti Mandhana, Mithali Raj, Jemimah Rodrigues, Veda Krishnamurthy, Deepti Sharma, Tanya Bhatia, Poonam Yadav, Radha Yadav, Anuja Patil or Ekta Bisht and Dayalan Hemlatha.
Pakistan Women
On the flipside, Pakistan women flattened against the clinical Australia women attack and seemed hapless in both, the batting and bowling department, as they faced heavy 52 run defeat against the southern stars.
Batting
The Pakistani batters showed absolutely no intent against Australian bowlers and they seem to have no clue on how to deal with them. Their top order failed miserably while middle order seemed hapless against quality attack.
Omaima Sohail and Bismah Maroof were the only batters to show some intent with their knocks of 20 (11) and 26 (25) respectively against the quality pace attack and the team will bank on them to score big one on this occasion.
Except these two, all the top and middle order batters, including skipper Javeria Khan, Nahida Khan and Ayesha Zafar failed to make an impact and it will be essential that these batters score few seizable knocks to get the team through to a respectable total.
Bowling
Aliya Riaz was the pick of the bowlers last time around with two wickets for 25 runs and the team will back him for another good performance.
While Nashra Sandhu too picked up two wickets but was quite expensive, giving away 43 runs in her quota of four overs and skipper will need her to do a bit of work in that area and rectify that in all important clash against India Women.
Aside from these two, they will also bank on the likes of Sana Mir and Nida Dar to chip in few crucial breakthroughs in middle overs.
Expected Playing XI
Javeria Khan (C), Nahida Khan, Ayesha Zafar, Omaima Sohail, Bismah Maroof, Nida Dar, Aliya Riaz, Sana Mir, Nashra Sandhu, Sidra Nawaz and Anam Amin.