🏏ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026: Group A: Ind W vs Pak W, M6 - Page 4

Harmanpreet Kaur: Very good pitch, so we thought let's bat. We are all excited, the last WC has given us confidence. It is about getting the areas right. Bharti [Fulmali] is playing today. We are going with three spinners and two medium pacers

Fatima Sana: We were looking to bat as well. As a team, we are doing great in batting and bowling. We have a good bowling unit. The knee is good. It looks like a batting track, but we have a good unit and it should be a good contest.

Fatima Sana: We would have batted as well. It looks like a good batting track. As a team we are doing great in batting and bowling. It is good. It looks like a batting track but we have a good bowling attack. We are going with Saira and it will be her first World Cup game.

Harmanpreet Kaur: We will bat first. It is a very good pitch to bat on, we will put up a decent total on the board. We are all very excited, we are taking the confidence from the last World Cup. It is about playing good cricket and we are looking forward to that. Bharti is playing today. We are going with three spinners and two medium pacers.

India Women have won the toss and have opted to bat

Teams:

India Women (Playing XI): Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur(c), Bharti Fulmali, Richa Ghosh(w), Deepti Sharma, Arundhati Reddy, Shreyanka Patil, Shree Charani, Kranti Gaud

Pakistan Women (Playing XI): Gull Feroza, Muneeba Ali(w), Ayesha Zafar, Saira Jabeen, Aliya Riaz, Natalia Pervaiz, Fatima Sana(c), Rameen Shamim, Nashra Sandhu, Tasmia Rubab, Sadia Iqbal

Good luck, India!

Let's go

India Women have won the toss and have opted to bat

Fatima Sana: I think if we had won the toss, we were going to bat first as well because it looks like a batting track. (Do you feel as if the batting unit is looking good?) Yeah, I think as a team, we are doing great in the batting and the bowling as well. So we know we have a good bowling unit, so we just need to improve in the batting side, so we are good to go. (The approach of their bowlers on this surface) Yeah, obviously, it looks like a batting track, but still, we have a good bowling unit. We have a good experienced bowling attack, so I think it will be a good contest. (Any key in or out for you for the team?) Yeah, we are going with Saira. She will be playing first time in the World Cup.

Harmanpreet Kaur: We will bat first. I think it's a very good pitch to bat on, so we just thought let's bat and set a decent total on the board. (Does winning a World Cup give them confidence?) Well, I think we all are very excited. The last World Cup definitely has given us a lot of confidence and we just want to carry that confidence to this World Cup. (Have you been pleased with the build-up?) Yes, definitely. We have plugged a lot of areas and now it's only about playing good cricket and we are looking forward to that. Bharti's playing today. And yeah, Yastika did really well, but today we thought of going with Bharti. We are going with three spinners and two medium pacers.

6 by Varma

The two line-ups for the national anthem. Pakistan's is being played followed by India's. Harmanpreet closing her eyes and singing the national anthem. We are done and Pakistan have a huddle before taking the field. Smriti and Shafali are out in the middle. Plenty of support for both teams as expected. It is going to be Sadia Iqbal's left-arm spin to kick-start proceedings. Here we go..

India have gone in with the extra batter in Bharti Fulmali meaning they have only five regular bowlers and Shafali Verma as the sixth option. The good thing is Jemimah will be batting at number three. For Pakistan, Fatima Sana has recovered after being hit in the practice sessions and even Aliya Riaz, who missed training, is playing. Watchout for Saira Jabeen, she's been in decent form and strikes at a good rate.

STAT: First toss win for India Women after 8 successive losses in T20Is, and this is also their first toss win after 12 consecutive toss losses on English soil in T20Is since 2022.