India W vs Pakistan W: Both teams of the subcontinent are playing the first match of the tournament today. The arch-rivals meet to play the first match of the Women's World Cup. The match is being played at Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui in New Zealand. The match started at 6:30 am IST.
An early morning start for the Indian fans. The fans were greeted by a steady partnership between Mandhana and Deepti Sharma after losing Shafali Verma for a duck in the third over of the match. India's score after 28 overs was 108/4 with Ghosh and Mithali Raj at the crease.
India won the toss and decided to bat first as the pitch at the Bay Oval looks conducive for batting. The extra dryness on the wicket will help the spinners over the course of today's match, thus India is playing with four spin bowling options.
This is Mithali Raj's sixth World Cup. A record that was only achieved by Tendulkar and Miandad. She also has this unique record of being the only Indian captain to have led the side in two World Cup finals (in 2005 and 2017). She has stepped down from T20Is as the 39-year-old wanted to focus on 50-over cricket. She has 7623 runs in 225 ODI matches.
Mithali Raj has decided to go with three pace bowling options: Jhulan Goswami, Pooja Vastrakar and Meghna Singh, but India's real strength lies in spin bowling. Nonetheless, team India will have to make sure they score a decent score on the board to challenge the Pakistani women.
India's recent form in ODIs is not great. Despite India being the runners-up from the 2017 World Cup, the side did not make enough progress in the 50 over format winning 19 out of the 40 matches they played since. In fact, India has lost series against South Africa (at home), England, Australia and New Zealand leading up to this World Cup.
Pakistan Women (Playing XI): Javeria Khan, Sidra Ameen, Bismah Maroof(c), Omaima Sohail, Nida Dar, Aliya Riaz, Fatima Sana, Sidra Nawaz(w), Diana Baig, Nashra Sandhu, Anam Amin
India Women (Playing XI): Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma, Harmanpreet Kaur, Mithali Raj(c), Richa Ghosh(w), Sneh Rana, Jhulan Goswami, Meghna Singh, Pooja Vastrakar, Rajeshwari Gayakwad