LAHORE: After a victory over Sri Lanka in their opening match of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, Pakistan will face off arch-rival India in their second group match in Dubai on Sunday (today).
The match between Pakistan Women and India Women will begin at 3pm, as per Pakistan Standard Time.
Earlier, Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by 31 runs in their inaugural match, while India bit the dust in the match against New Zealand.
Pakistan hope to keep up their winning trend after defeating Sri Lanka in their Group A opener. India, on the other hand, are trying to recover from their humiliating 58-run loss to New Zealand.
Addressing a press conference, Fatima Sana, the captain of Pakistan, showed faith in her team’s ability to handle the pressure in the game between the traditional rivals.
“There is no as such pressure. However, as there will be big crowd and tense atmosphere so it might build some pressure on the girls but we will try to do our job by remaining composed,” she said in response to a query.
The 22-year-old skipper, who is captaining Pakistan in the World Cup for the first time, showed off her skills against Sri Lanka with a fiery 30 runs off 20. She also demonstrated her versatility by stepping up with the ball when seamer Diana Baig was injured. Baig is expected to be fit for Sunday’s match.
On the other hand, India’s bowling coach, Aavishkar Salvi, emphasised that his team has moved past their defeat to New Zealand. “On Friday, whatever happened, Sunday is a fresh opportunity for us,” Salvi said.
Squad
Pakistan: Fatima Sana (capt), Aliya Riaz, Diana Baig, Gull Feroza, Iram Javed, Muneeba Ali (wk), Nashra Sandhu, Nida Dar, Omaima Sohail, Sadaf Shamas, Sadia Iqbal, Sidra Amin, Syeda Aroob Shah, Tasmia Rubab, Tuba Hassan
India: Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), Smriti Mandhana (vice-capt), Yastika Bhatia (wk), Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh (wk), Pooja Vastrakar, Arundhati Reddy, Renuka Singh, D Hemalatha, Asha Sobhana, Radha Yadav, Shreyanka Patil, S Sajana.
