India and Pakistan are scheduled to face each other today (September 5) in the ACC Women's Asia Cup 2026. Team India has reached the semi-finals by winning both its group matches. India has made it to the next round by defeating Thailand and Hong Kong. At the same time, Pakistan has also made a victorious start of its campaign.
Pakistan defeated Thailand by 35 runs in its first match. Pakistan team will remain in the race for semi-finals even after losing to India. His last match is against Hong Kong. In such a situation, there is no additional pressure on Fatima Sana Brigade.
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Team India's real test in front of Pakistan
The Indian team has defeated Thailand and Hong Kong very easily but its middle order has failed in both the matches. The pairing of Smriti Mandhana and Shefali Verma has given a good start. Despite this, Team India has not been able to reach a big score. Against Thailand, the team captained by Harmanpreet Kaur lost the last 8 wickets in scoring 46 runs.
Same situation prevailed in Hong Kong also. Smriti played an inning of 124 runs, while Shefali scored 28 runs. After him, batsmen from number 3 to number seven could add only 34 runs. In this Asia Cup, India's batting is going well only because of Smriti and Shefali. Smriti has scored 143 runs, while Shefali has scored 92 runs. After this is the name of Pratika Raval, who has scored only 32 runs.
Despite the failure of the middle order, the Indian team reached the score in both these matches, which was impossible for Thailand and Hong Kong to reach, but Harmanpreet Kaur Sena will have to rectify this shortcoming against Pakistan. Pak team can prove fatal on slow pitch.
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Pakistani team is coming in form
Against Thailand, Pakistan team could score only 119 runs after losing 9 wickets in 20 overs. Except for wicketkeeper Muniba Ali (54), no batsman could get going but the bowlers took charge and restricted Thailand to just 84 runs. Pakistan also did not have a good start but they cannot be underestimated on the slow pitch of Dubai.
The Pakistan team has played on the slow pitches of Sri Lanka only last month. He had scored more than 170 runs twice in Sri Lanka. Muniba and Shawal Zulfikar scored runs quickly. The Pakistani team will expect a similar start from its openers against India. Captain Fatima Sana did not play in the series against Sri Lanka. With his presence in the team, the balance of the Pakistan team has become excellent.
Pak team has defeated India once
India and Pakistan have faced each other 7 times so far in the Women's T20 Asia Cup. In these, Team India has won 6 times, while Pakistan has won once. It defeated Team India by 13 runs in 2022.
Probable playing XI of both the teams:
India – Smriti Mandhana, Shefali Verma, Pratika Rawal, Harmanpreet Kaur (captain), Bharti Fulmali, Richa Ghosh (wicketkeeper), Deepti Sharma, Prema Rawat, Nandani Sharma, Shree Charani, Kranti Gaur.
Pakistan – Muniba Ali (wk), Shawal Zulfikar, Gul Firozha, Ayesha Zafar, Sadaf Shams, Fatima Sana (captain), Umm-e-Hani, Aiman Fatima, Tuba Hasan, Nashra Sandhu, Sadia Iqbal.