Women’s Asia Cup 2026, IND-W vs PAK-W 9th Match, Group A Match Preview

Big picture – A test of batting depth

An India versus Pakistan contest without an element of jeopardy in it.

India have already qualified for the semi-final of the Women’s T20 Asia Cup after winning each of their two matches. Pakistan have played just one. Irrespective of the result against India, expect them to make the knockouts because their last league game is against Hong Kong.

The bigger focus will be on both these teams’ batting. India have posted totals that proved to be beyond their oppositions’ reach in the two games. But their middle-order has looked a little suspect. India lost 8 for 46 against Thailand after the openers had set a strong platform. Against Hong Kong, it was the Smriti Mandhana show all the way, with India’s Nos. 3 to 7 tallying a combined 34.

To be fair, Mandhana and Shafali Verma have also batted in perhaps the best phase of the match. On the evidence of the first seven matches, the new ball comes nicely onto the bat before the spinners take charge. Even then, the chasm between India’s openers and the rest tells a story: Mandhana has 143 runs, Shafali 92 and the next best is Pratika Rawal with 32. India would want to iron out the creases in their middle order before reaching the crunch stage.

Pakistan seem to be in a similar boat, where their batters fell short against Thailand before the bowlers stepped up. But Pakistan have played on slower surfaces in their bilateral tour of Sri Lanka in July-August. Twice they posted totals in excess of 170 with Shawaal Zulfiqar and Muneeba Ali showing their ability to change gears. Fatima Sana had skipped that series, which left a hole in their bowling. Zulfiqar, 21, is yet to play against India, and Pakistan would hope her powerplay exploits prove to be just the tonic.

If Pakistan can replicate a semblance of those performances against India in Dubai on Saturday evening, it could set them on course for only their second win over their arch-rivals in the T20 Asia Cup.

Form guide

India WWLWL (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Pakistan WWLLW

In the spotlight – Prema Rawat and Nashra Sandhu

Prema Rawat’s T20I debut came in a high-pressure match – against South Africa at the T20 World Cup. She did not get a game in that tournament after that. But in two games of the Asia Cup thus far, she has shown her mettle, even if those games were against Thailand and Hong Kong. The legspinner showed the spunk to hold her lengths whenever the batters attacked, and has been quite economical. Her two-wicket haul, including a maiden international wicket, in the previous outing should keep her in good spirits for the match against Pakistan. That she has kept the experienced Radha Yadav on the bench speaks about the team’s confidence in her.

Nashra Sandhu’s appetite for a fight is hardly surprising considering she wanted to become a fast bowler. The left-arm spinner has quite liked playing against India going by her T20I record: six wickets, seven matches, economy of 5.47 and an average of 18 (much lower than her career average of 21.2). What’s more, she has a good record against Smriti Mandhana (30 runs in 32 balls for two dismissals, who is also fresh off her second T20I century, and Harmanpreet Kaur (26 off 34 balls for one dismissal). With conditions in Dubai offering some assistance to slower bowlers, Sandhu can be a handful for the Indian middle order.

Team news

Both teams have close-to-ideal combinations for the conditions in Dubai. So expect them to field the same XIs, barring any injuries.

India (probable): 1 Smriti Mandhana, 2 Shafali Verma, 3 Pratika Rawal, 4 Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), 5 Richa Ghosh (wk), 6 Bharti Fulmali, 7 Deepti Sharma, 8 Prema Rawat, 9 Kranti Gaud, 10 N Shree Charani, 11 Nandani Sharma

Pakistan (probable): 1 Muneeba Ali (wk), 2 Shawaal Zulfiqar, 3 Gull Feroza, 4 Ayesha Zafar, 5 Sadaf Shamas, 6 Fatima Sana (capt), 7 Umm-e-Hani, 8 Eyman Fatima, 9 Tuba Hassan, 10 Nashra Sandhu, 11 Sadia Iqbal

Pitch and conditions

Teams winning the toss at this Asia Cup opted to chase in six of the first seven matches, with only Sri Lanka winning after restricting UAE to 78. The general pattern has been of teams batting first racing away to a strong start, and then slowing down towards the finish. Only India have posted totals in excess of 150 in this tournament. Spinners have had more success (71 wickets, economy 5.1) than quicks (31 wickets, economy 6.18). Thus, the captain winning the toss might have a tricky choice to make on Saturday.

Evenings in Dubai have been pretty hot and humid with Mandhana calling it a “steam box”. Saturday evening is expected to be similar with a high of 37 degrees around start time with the temperature expected to fall only marginally thereafter.

Stats and trivia

This match will be Harmanpreet Kaur’s 150th T20I as captain. No other man or woman has led in as many T20Is.
Smriti Mandhana is 78 away from surpassing Suzie Bates (4758) for most T20I runs.
Muneeba Ali is two matches shy of becoming the sixth Pakistan woman to play 100 T20Is. She is also 31 runs away from scoring the most T20I runs for Pakistan in a calendar year.
India have lost only once to Pakistan at the T20 Asia Cup in seven meetings – in Sylhet in 2022.

Quotes

“Charani is a very good talent. She is ranked No. 1 as well. In the last one year, she has performed well. The way she gets the ball to turn is unbelievable. It is not easy for any batter to play that.”
India allrounder Deepti Sharma heaps praise on N Shree Charani

“Fielding is an aspect on which we have been focusing deeply. Our mentor [Wahab Riaz] has also told us that there should be no compromise on our fielding standards. [Good] fielding can win you matches and hopefully we wouldn’t drop any catches and field well in the match.”
Pakistan batter Ayesha Zafar

S Sudarshanan is a sub-editor at Cricinfo. @Sudarshanan7

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