India will take on their arch-rivals Pakistan in their first match of the Women’s T20 World Cup 2023 on February 12. They would look to begin their campaign in the tournament with a win. The Women in Blue are aiming to win their maiden World Cup title
The 2020 finalists are ranked at no.4 in the T20I rankings while Pakistan is at the No.7 spot. But given the traditional rivalry, India won’t take their opposition lightly and it’s expected to be a high-voltage contest. Here we will look at India’s predicted playing XI for their opening match.
Top Order
Shafali Verma and Jemimah Rodrigues (Source – Twitter)
India vice-captain Smriti Mandhana is most likely to miss the match due to injury. Yastika Bhataia will look to redeem herself in the absence of Mandhana. The Under-19 Women’s team skipper Shafali Verma will be high on confidence after winning the inaugural Under-19 Women’s World Cup recently. However, the power hitter is out of color in the past few innings. Jemimah Rodrigues might come to bat at no.3 as she played a brilliant knock in the warm-up match against Bangladesh.
