The Indian women’s team started their World Cup campaign on a high note by defeating arch-rivals Pakistan by 64 runs in a crucial match in the preliminary round of the 2026 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup.
The match was played at Edgbaston Stadium with a crowd of 18,814, making it the highest ever for a Women’s T20 World Cup preliminary round match.
India won the toss and elected to bat first, posting a solid 170 for 6 in their 20 overs.
This is also the highest total scored by India against Pakistan in the history of the World Cup.
India’s first two wickets fell for 36 runs, but opener Smriti Mandhana’s aggressive play against the Pakistani bowlers put India in the game.
Making the most of the catches dropped by the Pakistani fielders, Mandhana reached her half-century of 68 runs in 34 balls.
Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur provided invaluable support with 36 runs, while Richa Ghosh, who played a fast innings in the last half of the innings, scored 34 not out in 17 balls to take India up the scoreboard.
Chasing a target of 171 runs, Pakistan could only manage 106 runs in 20 overs.
Muniba Ali was quick to score runs in the opening overs of Pakistan’s innings, helping the team to score 52 runs in the 6 overs of the powerplay.
However, the pace of Pakistan’s innings slowed down as the Indian spinners came into action. Muniba Ali was unfortunately run out for 41 runs.
Then, Indian spinner Deepti Sharma came into action, destroying the Pakistani back-order and recording the best bowling figures of her T20 international career.
She put Pakistan under a lot of pressure with her 5-10-run haul.
In addition, Sri Charani took 3-21.
With this impressive victory, India took the lead in Group A and their next match is scheduled to be against the Netherlands next Wednesday.
Pakistan is scheduled to play South Africa in the evening of the same day.
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