India opt to bat with three spinners, three seamers

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Toss India chose to bat vs Pakistan

In the first India vs Pakistan 50-over women’s fixture in nearly five years, and what is also the tournament openers for both teams at the 2022 ODI World Cup, India captain Mithali Raj opted to bat at the Bay Oval in Maunt Maunganui.

Raj, making a record sixth ODI World Cup appearance, said she wanted to follow the trend of teams setting targets, given all three earlier matches in the event have seen unsuccessful chases. Pakistan captain Bismah Maroof, however, said she would have bowled first because the surface, in her assessment, was “damp.”

India went in with a three-pronged pace attack, made up by the 39-year-old Jhulan Goswami, playing her fifth ODI World Cup, Pooja Vastrakar and Meghna Singh. Left-arm spinner Rajeshwari Gayakwad and offspin-bowling allrounders Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana and Harmanpreet Kaur round out their spin-bowling options. By opting for six bowlers, they have left out the 21-year-old top-order batter Yastika Bhatia despite her impressive recent showings since her debut across formats on the September-October tour of Australia. She had also scored 42 and 58 in the two warm-up games against West Indies and South Africa, respectively.

Javeria Khan and Sidra Ameen will open for Pakistan, who will rely on the young pacers, Diana Baig and Fatima Sana, to make early inroads. Left-arm spinner Nashra Sandhu, too, would be key to their chances of pulling off an upset on Sunday.

This is the same surface on which the New Zealand vs West Indies cliffhanger was played, with West Indies shocking the hosts with a final-over victory. Former New Zealand batter Lesley Murdoch said during the pitch report there could be a little bit of spin on the surface, but batters were expected to reap dividends of spending time in the middle.

Both teams won their two warm-ups each heading into the tournament.

This is Maroof’s first international fixture since returning from maternity leave, which had prompted the PCB to launch a historic first bespoke maternity policy among Full Members in the subcontinent. This is also the first time she is leading Pakistan in a 50-over world tournament.

India: 1 Smriti Mandhana, 2 Shafali Verma, 3 Deepti Sharma, 4 Mithali Raj (capt), 5 Harmanpreet Kaur, 6 Richa Ghosh (wk), 7 Sneh Rana, 8 Jhulan Goswami, 9 Meghna Singh, 10 Pooja Vastrakar, 11 Rajeshwari Gayakwad

Pakistan: 1 Javeria Khan, 2 Sidra Ameen, 3 Bismah Maroof (capt), 4 Omaima Sohail, 5 Nida Dar, 6 Aliya Riaz, 7 Fatima Sana, 8 Sidra Nawaz (wk), 9 Diana Baig, 10 Nashra Sandhu, 11 Anam Amin