Men or women, routinely scheduled Indo-Pak fixtures in multi-team events have not lived up to the off-field hype for a while now. Nothing different is expected when the two teams meet at the Dubai International Stadium with overwhelming title favourites India expected to steamroll Pakistan. That is not to say that India don’t have work to do in the shortest format, having made premature exits in the past two World Cups.
Having already made the semifinals, a far superior India will be expected to step up the intensity against traditional foes Pakistan in their final league game of the Women’s Asia Cup on Saturday.
Having already made the semifinals, a far superior India will be expected to step up the intensity against traditional foes Pakistan in their final league game of the Women’s Asia Cup on Saturday.
However, they managed to defend a lowly 119 against a less-established side. Pakistan, on the other hand, have won their opening game against Thailand and remain in contention for the last-four stage. However, at the Asia level, no side comes close to India’s level. The Indians had somehow finished runners-up to Sri Lanka in the previous edition. Ahead of the game, both India openers Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma looked at the top of their game. Mandhana broke a battery of records against Hong Kong en route a memorable hundred to fire out a warning for the other teams in the competition. Pressure is mounting on new number three Rawal, who has not been able to meet the demands of the T20 game, having found plenty of success in the ODI format. Pakistan, on the other hand, need drastic improvement in their batting to competing with India. The shortcomings in the batting department have let the team down for a number of years. Even in their last game against Thailand, Pakistan found themselves under pressure in the powerplay with the loss of three wickets.
