The ninth edition of the Women's Asia Cup couldn't have asked for a bigger opening as India gear up to take on their arch-rivals Pakistan at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium on Friday to rekindle cricket's biggest rivalry.
This will be the seventh match between the two teams in the Women's Asia Cup T20I format. India enjoy a dominant record over their Asian neighbours in the tournament having won five out of the six games played thus far.
India's head-to-head record vs Pakistan in T20Is
Both India and Pakistan played against each other in the shortest format of the game during the ICC Women's World Twenty20 in 2009. The Women in Blue had eased past Pakistan by five wickets while playing in Taunton.
Since then both opponents have crossed paths 14 times in T20Is with India winning 11 games and Pakistan securing victories on just three occasions.
They last met at the previous edition of the ICC Women's T20 World Cup in South Africa in 2023. India had won that game easily with seven wickets to spare while chasing 150 in Cape Town.
India are the overwhelming favourites to win the contest. They are coming into the tournament on the back of a drawn 1-1 T20I series against South Africa.
Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana and Renuka Singh Thakur will be stars to watch out for from India whereas Pakistan will expect Nida Dar, Muneeba Ali and Nashra Sandhu among others to have a really good game.
India Women Squad:
Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Deepti Sharma, Uma Chetry (wk), S Sajana, Pooja Vastrakar, Shreyanka Patil, Arundhati Reddy, Radha Yadav, Dayalan Hemalatha, Renuka Thakur Singh, Richa Ghosh, Asha Sobhana
Pakistan Women Squad:
Sidra Ameen, Gull Feroza, Tuba Hassan, Muneeba Ali (wk), Nida Dar (c), Aliya Riaz, Fatima Sana, Omaima Sohail, Diana Baig, Nashra Sandhu, Sadia Iqbal, Syeda Aroob Shah, Najiha Alvi, Tasmia Rubab, Iram Javed
