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The India women’s national cricket team is ready for one of its biggest matches of the year. They will begin their ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 campaign with a high-octane clash against Pakistan, and captain Harmanpreet Kaur said that they are ready for the big clash.
Before the tournament, India Women’s crowned as winners of 2026 Women’s T20 World Cup. Even though they lost their second warm-up match against England, the India women’s national cricket team is taking positives from the game. The biggest positive for India was Richa Ghosh.
The Indian wicketkeeper-batter Richa Ghosh returned to her form at the perfect time. She attacked the bowlers from the start and kept India in the match with some excellent shots. Richa scored 68 runs from just 36 balls with nine fours and two sixes, and India bowled out for 166.
Harmanpreet Kaur spots big weakness before India’s Pakistan clash at ICC T20 World Cup 2026
India’s failure to chase 172 runs against England’s women’s national cricket team exposed a big problem, and that is they could not build enough partnerships in the middle overs. Harmanpreet Kaur, who achieved rare milestone recently, lamented that her team didn’t get a partnership in the middle overs that cost them the game.
Harmanpreet Kaur said in the post-match presentation: “It’s about partnerships, and I think we missed the chance, and only Richa and a few other players were there to get a few partnerships. In T20 cricket, if you want to win, you have to get a few partnerships in the middle overs, and today, we missed that. But it was good to see how Richa batted today.”
India ready for Pakistan battle as Harmanpreet Kaur backs fearless cricket
Still, Harmanpreet Kaur feels that the two practice matches have helped them prepare well and given them confidence before their big game against Pakistan’s women’s national cricket team on June 14 at Edgbaston in Birmingham at the ICC Women’s T20I World Cup 2026.
The Indian skipper further said, “We are really looking forward to that (the Pakistan match). These two practice games have given us a lot of confidence, and even today, even though we lost the game, Richa batted well, and I think that’s a big positive for us. That’s a big belief that if we stay on the pitch, we can turn the game anytime, and I think these two (warm-up) games have given a lot of confidence, and hopefully we’ll play our fearless cricket in our first game.”
India dominate Pakistan in ICC Women’s T20 World Cup history
India and Pakistan have played against each other eight times in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup. India have won six of those matches, while Pakistan have won only two.
Pakistan’s last win over India in the tournament came 10 years ago in Delhi, where they won by just two runs. Before that, they also beat India by only one run in the 2012 edition.
But in recent years, India has completely dominated this rivalry. India has won the last three T20 World Cup matches against Pakistan in a dominant fashion.
The last time the two teams met was in the 2024 Women’s T20 World Cup, where India comfortably chased down the target of 106 runs, winning by six wickets with seven balls to spare.