IND-W vs PAK-W

Harmanpreet Kaur (India captain): Our bowlers and openers made it easy. First game is always a pressure game, but we made it look easy and set the tone. The entire unit played well, whoever got the opportunity did well. We talked about early breakthroughs when bowling, and we always look to start well with the bat. Credit to Smriti and Shafali the way they started. To play fearless cricket like we did today, we want to keep doing it. (On her knee) It's fine.

Deepti Sharma is the Player of the Match! Here's what she has to say: Feeling good, delivered according to the plan, bowled in right areas and it worked out well. As a unit, we've done well in recent times and the camps have been helpful. After South Africa series, I worked on my bowling, it has helped. Nida's wicket was a big wicket, if you take a wicket of a big batter, you feel better. (On her picking 200 wickets across all formats) I'm happy to have bowled well in this game.

Nida Dar (Pakistan captain): Different between two powerplay, we lost both of then. We came back well as a bowling unit, but we have lot of things to get it right, struggled with the bat. Bowling unit did well, we have to go back and regroup before the next game. We lost the powerplays, that made the difference. We are looking to bounce back in the next two games.

Match summary:

India win by 7 wickets with 35 balls to spare

Smriti Mandhana 45 (31) | Deepti Sharma 3/20 (4)
Sidra Ameen 25 (35) | Syeda Aroob Shah 2/9 (3)

Pakistan needed wickets - a handful of them early in the chase to make a case for themselves. They didn't help themselves in that regard one bit by straying in line and length on numerous occasions in the powerplay, even though there was a lot of help with the new ball. The Indian opening pair of Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana killed the game off in the powerplay itself, and from then on, it was a case of improvement of Net Run Rate.

Shafali Verma set the tone early on - she took her time in the first two overs and then began finding the boundaries more often once she began middling the ball. There were quite a few buffet balls to dispatch, and so she did. The boundaries began flowing thick and fast - Smriti Mandhana got in on the act soon after as Pakistan's decision to go with spin early on didn't come off.

Having killed the game off within the powerplay - 57 coming off the first six overs - the Indian opening pair focused on finishing the game off as early as they could. Both openers hardly had to break a sweat throughout the chase. They hit the ball as per its merit - quite a few of them worthy of being dispatched, and the duo had no trouble finding the gaps more often.

Pakistan did find a breakthrough eventually - Smriti picked out Aliya at mid-wicket trying to hoick one off Syeda Aroob Shah - the leggie proceeded to clean up Shafali Verma as well in her second over, but they came along far too late for them. Took a bit more than half the overs for India to get the job done, but the 7-time Women's Asia Cup champions sure begin their campaign with a bang! Presentations to follow...

Game, set and match! There was a hiccup or two towards the latter stages, but India register their first points of the 2024 Women's Asia Cup with plenty of time to spare!

14.1 Sadia Iqbal to Jemimah Rodrigues, THAT'S IT! FOUR! INDIA THRASH PAKISTAN IN THEIR OPENER! Deft touch by Rodrigues to get the job done. It has been a comprehensive victory over the arch rivals as India open their account. Plenty to ponder for Pakistan as far as their batting is concerned. Good length on the fourth stump, Rodrigues waits and then opens the face of the blade at the last second, dabs it down to third-man, that runs away and finds the ropes.

13.5 Syeda Aroob Shah to Harmanpreet Kaur, short and wide, Kaur waits and cuts it hard through couvers. Sweeper cover with a slide as they come back for a couple. SCORES ARE LEVEL!

13.3 Syeda Aroob Shah to Harmanpreet Kaur, flighted the length delivery on the off-stump, Kaur leans to drive but hits the splice of the bat, rolls back to the bowler.

13.2 Syeda Aroob Shah to Jemimah Rodrigues, tossed up a length delivery on the stumps, Rodrigues shuffles across and nudged it past square-leg, settles for a single.

13.1 Syeda Aroob Shah to Harmanpreet Kaur, pulls the length back on the fourth stump, Kaur waits on the backfoot and slices it past covers for one.

12.6 Nashra Sandhu to Harmanpreet Kaur, good length but drifting down the leg-side. Kaur misses the clip, kisses the pad and the keeper doesn't collect neatly as they pick up a leg-bye.