The Indian opener Smriti Mandhana has scored a fantastic knock of 68 to get the innings underway against Pakistan. She did look a bit shaky early on with a couple of loose shots and she also saw two quick wickets falling in the form of Shafali Verma and Jemimah Rodrigues. Smriti managed to navigate through a tough powerplay but later managed to switch gears with some fine boundary-hitting. She looked in excellent touch overall and her partnership with Harmanpreet Kaur was the one that laid the foundation for the Indian batting unit. Smriti Mandhana was dismissed by Rameen Shamim in the 14th over but much of the damage was already done. 

Pakistan were off to a dream start early in the innings with the new ball with the spinner Sadia Iqbal taking the important wicket of Shafali Verma. Soon after, Jemimah Rodrigues went searching for the big shot but ended up giving away her wicket to Tasmia Rubab with a loose shot. The Indian side must have felt the pressure as they lost two key batters in their top order but the fightback led by Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur was a solid one. They will be looking to get to a solid finish in the match to get to a defendable total against Pakistan.

Mandhana-Kaur resilience sets platform for strong finish

The importance of the knock of Smriti Mandhana cannot be understated as she fought a difficult phase out in the middle. She was struggling with her timing and even a catch was put down early in the game. The initial dropped chance made the Indian star batter a lot more cautious and she decided to just rotate the strike until she found her usual rhythm. It was a brilliant front foot cover drive that gave Smriti the confidence and from then on she didn’t have to look back. She danced down the track a lot of times to make room for herself and the Pakistan bowling unit didn’t seem to have an answer and their fielding was sloppy as well.

India will be looking to cross the 150-run mark as that would give their bowlers something to bowl at in the second innings. The pitch seems to be favouring the slower bowlers and the spinners as Pakistan have utilized their bowlers brilliantly. The Indian bowlers in the dugout would be licking their lips as the slow nature of the pitch could be utilized by their strong spin bowling unit. Richa Ghosh and Deepti Sharma will have to give India a strong finish and the finish they get in the back-end of the innings could possibly determine the result of the game as well.

As India look to get off to a commanding start in the 2026 ICC T20I Women’s World Cup, a victory against Pakistan would do their confidence a world of good. The rest of the responsibility will be on the spin bowling unit of India as in spin dominant conditions, all eyes will be on them. Pakistan will be looking to chase down any total presented to them by India but it won’t be an easy task to complete.