India women defeated Pakistan women by 64 runs in their campaign opener of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026. Chasing 171, the Women in Green were dismissed for 106 runs in 17 overs.
Muneeba Ali was the only Pakistan batter, who looked comfortable in the middle, amassing 41 runs in 35 balls. She hit 5 boundaries, but the lack of effort from other batters put the team behind.
Gull Feroza and Ayesha Zafar managed just 12 runs each, and their dismissals ended the hopes of dominating Team India. There were expectations from Saira Jabeen and Natalia Pervaiz, but the two only contributed 2 and 7 runs, respectively. Pakistan captain Fatima Sana failed to open her account despite facing three balls.
Veteran spinner Deepti Sharma was unplayable and dismissed five batters for just 10 runs from four overs.
Shree Charani was also impressive, picking up three scalps from her 4 overs. India captain Harmanpreet Kaur also gave the ball to Shafali Varma, who took one scalp for 22 runs.
Earlier, India won the toss and elected to bat first to take advantage of the good batting conditions. Shafali (6) and Jemimah Rodrigues (1) were back in the pavilion in the powerplay overs. Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet, the two most experienced batters, got together and took the score beyond the 100-run mark. Smriti, the vice-captain, amassed a 44-ball 68, with the help of 9 fours and 2 maximums. On the other hand, Kaur added 36 runs to the total after facing 35 deliveries. She struck 4 boundaries.
The finishing touches were given by Richa Ghosh, who scored runs at a strike rate of 200. The wicket-keeper batter reached 34 runs in just 17 balls, packed with 5 boundaries and 1 six. Deepti Sharma remained not out on 12 in 9 balls.
For Pakistan, Sadia Iqbal and Fatima took two wickets each. Tasmia Rubab and Rameen Shamim also dismissed one scalp each.
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