History had offered little comfort to Pakistan coming into Saturday’s clash in the 2026 Women’s Asia Cup, having dropped four consecutive fixtures to their neighbours across formats. Shafali Verma set an explosive tone for the paltry 56-run chase by launching the very first delivery from Sadia Iqbal over long-off for a six. Shafali also became the youngest batter to reach 3,000 runs in women’s T20Is at 22 years and 220 days, as well as the fastest in terms of balls faced (2,182).
Pakistan’s challenge ended in a whimper as Harmanpreet Kaur -led India romped to a seven-wicket win in a Women’s Asia Cup match in Dubai on Saturday.
Pakistan captain Fatima Sana mounted a spirited fightback when she removed Shafali (12) by extracting a soft leading edge, completed via a caught-and-bowled dismissal, before getting Pratika Rawal (4) caught behind. Fatima struck again in her second over by trapping Smriti Mandhana lbw after the opener hit her for a boundary, leaving India at 29/3 in the fourth over. Yet, as 22 players lined up under oppressive, humid conditions to square off on a fresh pitch offering grip and sharp turn, it seemed set for a battle of attrition. Sree Charani, Prema Rawat , Shafali Verma and Deepti Sharma delivered a tactical bowling masterclass to bundle out Pakistan for a paltry 55 and lay the foundation for a seven-wicket victory to sign off from the league stage. For Pakistan, barring openers Shawaal Zulfiqar and Muneeba Ali , none of the batters reached double figures, as they went from 27/0 to 55 all out, and that insipid batting made the contest a one-sided affair yet again, with India registering their fifth consecutive T20I win over their arch-rivals.
The duo took their time before Deepti released the pressure in the seventh over by stepping out to loft left-arm spinner Nashra Sandhu over mid-wicket for four. After dismissing Shafali, Fatima gave her a cold send-off. It drew a strong reaction on the internet. The three-wicket burst made Fatima just the fourth bowler from a Full Member nation to take three wickets in the powerplay of a women’s T20I twice in her career. However, captain Harmanpreet and Deepti Sharma steadied the chase without further alarms. Harmanpreet and Deepti carefully made the remaining runs by using soft hands and quick running to keep the scoreboard ticking. Harmanpreet then capped off the win in style in the ninth over, after surviving a chance that just evaded an outstretched Fatima at mid-on for four. Instead, India’s lethal spin quartet of N. The quartet proved to be unplayable, as the relentless spin unit consistently deceived the Pakistani batters with flight and forced them into playing loose off-side strokes outside their reach. With IANS inputs
