Pakistan opt to bat first; Sajana replaces injured Pooja for India

There isn’t a lot of history or bad blood between India and Pakistan in Women’s cricket. Not even if you search to the depth of it. But the rivalry between the two sides in men’s cricket has ultimately dripped into women’s side of things. 

Such has been the result thus far that this contest has become vital for both teams. Pakistan are coming off a crazy comeback win against Sri Lanka, while India are entering this clash after their shock loss against New Zealand. 

India were off to the worst start possible, losing the toss here, and Pakistan did not hesitate one bit by opting to bat first. 

Playing XIs

There’s one thing for India, Pooja Vastrakar has been ruled out of this clash, with Sajana Sajeevan being named as her replacement.

India XI: Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh (wk), Deepti Sharma, Arundhati Reddy, S Sajana, Shreyanka Patil, Asha Sobhana, Renuka Thakur Singh

Diana Baig misses out on this big clash after she suffered an injury in the opener against Sri Lanka. Syeda Aroob Shah replaces Baig as Pakistan strengthen their bowling. 

Pakistan XI: Muneeba Ali (wk), Gull Feroza, Sidra Amin, Nida Dar, Aliya Riaz, Omaima Sohail, Fatima Sana (c), Tuba Hassan, Nashra Sandhu, Syeda Aroob Shah, Sadia Iqbal

Hear from the two captains:

Harmanpreet Kaur: We would have batted first as well, but we'll have to bowl well and restrict them. We have one change: Pooja is out with an injury, and she's replaced by Sajana. We'll have to move forward with a positive approach; it's always how you bounce back, and we've spoken about it. We will go out there and play some positive cricket.

Fatima Sana: We will bat first and put up a total on the board. Diana Baig misses out — that's the only change. She's replaced by Arooba. It's a big blow, but we have players who can do well in her absence. We'll try to put up a good total here. I'm excited to lead Pakistan against India.

How’s the pitch going to behave? 

“It's searingly hot in the middle, it's 37 degrees celsius, and the players will feel like 40. 61m and 60m square boundaries, while the straight boundary is at 73m. It's pitch number 5, the conditions are tough, and the batters will need to assess it quickly. There will be a lot of spinners from both teams, the conditions are slow and low,” Mel Jones and Anjum Chopra say from Dubai.

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