Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur heaped praise on her team for its all-round performance after India secured a dominant seven wicket-win over arch-rival Pakistan in the Women’s Asia Cup in Dubai on Saturday.
India’s spin quartet of Shree Charani, Prema Rawat, Shafali Verma and Deepti Sharma bowled out Pakistan for a meagre 55, its lowest ever total in women’s T20 International before wrapping up the chase in just 8.4 overs.
“It was a very important game for us. We talk about being ruthless, so very happy. All the bowlers have been outstanding, stuck to the plans, read the pitch well and executed well,” Harmanpreet said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
“It is very important to keep the standards high. I know what this team brings to the table. As far as losing three wickets is concerned, it can happen. Pakistan have a good bowling attack,” Harmanpreet said.
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The famous win came on a day when Harmanpreet became the first cricketer in the world to captain his or her country in 150 T20 Internationals. In fact, India’s women have played 228 T20Is since inception and Harmanpreet has been a part of 205 games.
“I am grateful. I never thought that I will come this far. Keep supporting (appeal to fans). Hope I keep continuing the good work,” she added.
Young spinner Charani, who had figures of 3 for 7 in 4 overs said that the bowling coach had advised her to put more revs on the ball to extract more drift and turn, a strategy that ultimately worked wonders.
“Just wanted to bowl to my strengths and according to the field. I just try to give more revs on the ball,” Charani said. She is one short of 50 T20I wickets but maintained her focus was on continuing doing a good job for the team.
“It is normal. I want to keep up my good work,” she said.
Pakistan skipper Fatima Sana cut a sorrry figure and defended her choice of batting first, revealing the plan was to put pressure on the Indian batters in the second innings through some tight bowling.
“We had a collapse. It was a fresh wicket and we wanted to put maximum total as we had a good bowling side,” Sana said.
She was the only Pakistani bowler who up a fight, taking three quick wickets.
“It doesn’t matter that I got three wickets. We will try to play good cricket in our last game,” she concluded.
Published on Sep 05, 2026