(Cricket news) India Women will start their T20 World Cup campaign with the match against Pakistan. The women in blue lost their first warm up game against Australia but bounced back with the formidable win over Bangladesh. Pakistan on the other hand won against Bangladesh but then lost against South Africa. India women’s team came really close in the last T20 World Cup but lost in the final against Australia. The team won the silver medal at the Commonwealth Games after losing to Australia in the finals once again. This time around they will be looking to go all the way with their young team.

India women possible playing XI:

Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur(c), Richa Ghosh (wk), Devika Vaidya, Deepti Sharma, Pooja Vastrakar, Shikha Pandey, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Renuka Singh Thakur

Bench: Harleen Deol, Yastika Bhatia, Meghna Singh, Radha Yadav, Anjali Sarvani

Shafali Verma and Richa Ghosh are coming into the side after winning the Under 19 World Cup and they will be high on confidence. The choice between left arm spinners Radha Yadav and Rajeshwari Gayakwad is going to be a tough one but the latter may get the nod based on current form. Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and her deputy Smriti Mandhana will have to lead India Women from the front along with star all-rounder Deepti Sharma. The combination of 3 seamers would be the perfect way to go but the team could still chuck in an extra spinner.

Pakistan women possible playing XI:

Sidra Ameen, Muneeba Ali (wk), Javeria Khan, Bismah Maroof (c), Nida Dar, Ayesha Naseem, Aliya Riaz, Fatima Sana, Tuba Hassan, Aiman Anwer, Sadia Iqbal

Bench: Omaima Sohail, Sadaf Shamas, Sidra Nawaz, Nashra Sandhu

Once again a lot of responsibility will be on captain Bismah Mahroof. Sidra Ameen and Nida Dar have been in decent form with the bat and Pakistan will be hoping that they can capitalise. The biggest task for Pakistan will be to keep the Indian batters at bay. In terms of their batting they will have to negotiate with the swing of Renuka Singh Thakur.

Also read: Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja & Axar Patel star with the bat on day 2