Dubai, Sep 5 — Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat first against India in the Group A clash of the 2026 Women’s Asia Cup at the Dubai International Stadium on Saturday. Both teams are unchanged from their respective last clashes in the continental event.
India have won nine of their last 10 T20Is against Pakistan, whose only recent victory against the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side came during the 2022 Asia Cup. Harmanpreet's side has already booked a place in the semifinals after winning their matches against Thailand and Hong Kong-China.
Harmanpreet has also become the first player in international cricket, male or female, to lead her side in 150 T20Is. Sri Lanka skipper Chamari Athapaththu trails Harmanpreet on the all-time list for most T20Is as captain with 121 matches.
“Definitely happy to be chasing. Our bowling is doing great in this tournament, and it's good getting the opportunity to bowl first. I think while batting it's always about giving ourselves some time and then going for your shots, and I think the first two games we did really well in that department, and hopefully we'll continue.
“Great achievement (to play 150th T20I game as captain). But the key is to keep enjoying yourself on the field, and that is a key; I try to keep up with that. We will try to restrict them to a small total, so that we don't feel any pressure while chasing,” she said.
Pakistan, who opened their campaign with a victory over Thailand, need a strong performance ahead of their final group-stage fixture against Hong Kong-China to ensure progress to the last four stage.
“We're gonna bat first because we want to put a maximum total here. Because we know we have a good bowling side, so we will try to restrict them. We had a good chat with the team, and we just want to play according to the pitch.”
Playing XIs:
India: Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Pratika Rawal, Harmanpreet Kaur (captain), Bharti Fulmali, Richa Ghosh (wk), Deepti Sharma, Prema Rawat, Nandani Sharma, Sree Charani, and Kranti Gaud
Pakistan: Muneeba Ali (wk), Shawaal Zulfiqar, Gull Feroza, Ayesha Zafar, Sadaf Shamas, Fatima Sana (captain), Umm-e-Hani, Eyman Fatima, Tuba Hassan, Nashra Sandhu, and Sadia Iqbal