This was a well-known World Cup tale: India faced Pakistan, and despite all the excitement, handshakes, and millions of viewers, the blue team won the match with minimal drama. Harmanpreet Kaur’s team started the competition with a 64-run victory in Birmingham as Smriti Mandhana opened with 68 off 44 balls before Deepti Sharma cleaned up in the second half, taking five for 10.
Pakistan got off to a strong start with both bat and ball; chasing 171, they closed the powerplay on 52 for one, with Muneeba Ali finding some rhythm. However, the threat of an upset soon faded as Deepti, the player of the tournament in the ODI World Cup last year, connected the dots with her off-breaks.
The 50-over world champions, who are here to take on the shorter version, had a respectable start. The Women’s Premier League, a domestic competition that compensates the world’s top athletes, supports India. In contrast, Pakistan has never made it past the group round of the T20 World Cup, and their board’s announcements from a few years ago regarding the creation of a women’s franchise league have since subsided. Another significant mismatch is this intense rivalry.
This was no utopia for anyone attempting to avoid the problems of the football World Cup, of course; there was also the political edge to deal with. During the build-up, India’s captain Harmanpreet was asked if the two teams would shake hands. The allusion went back to the Asia Cup the previous year, when Suryakumar Yadav’s men’s T20 side declined to make amends with their rivals following an earlier-year armed confrontation between the two nations. At the 50-over World Cup eight months ago, Harmanpreet and her opponent, Fatima Sana, engaged in more of the same.
Harmanpreet stated on Saturday that “we are here for cricket, and we only talk about cricket,” but the toss was always going to be eagerly watched. Sadly, there was no handshake amongst those out in the middle after the final wicket and none with Sana when she decided to bat first. Harmanpreet is aware that this is not your typical cricket match.
The match was a rematch of the Netherlands’ first-ever Women’s T20 World Cup event, which was a close match against Bangladesh that was decided in the last over. The match should have started earlier than 10.30 a.m.
Edgbaston was overwhelmingly more blue than green as the audience flocked in for the main event. An attendance of 18,814 was reported by the International Cricket Council, surpassing that of the tournament’s opening match between Sri Lanka and England on Friday at the same venue.
The opening few overs were dominated by Pakistan. Shafali Verma hit a first-ball six, but Sadia Iqbal’s bounce undid him a few moments later. India is at 18 for two as Jemimah Rodrigues made just one before fleeing with a hack off her seventh delivery.
The rebuild was open to two titans of the Indian game, their top run scorers in this format. In just 11 overs, Mandhana and Harmanpreet amassed a 91-run partnership, with the former shining when she flew over the offside. When creating space to launch the left-arm swift Tasmia Rubab, she should have gone on 27, but Aliya Riaz backpedalled from mid-off and was unable to hang on. Six minutes later, the same bowler’s shot flew.
With the crowd becoming louder and India flags working overtime, Mandhana whirled away to a half-century off 34 balls, followed by another error at deep midwicket. Pakistan was on the verge of imploding. “To be honest, I didn’t feel like we were playing in the UK,” Deepti remarked, claiming the best stats of her Twenty20 international career. “It feels like home, and the fans are supporting us.”
There was a passage of respite for Pakistan after Sana swept in for a fine catch at long-on to end Mandhana’s knock, and Harmanpreet fell to Pakistan’s 24-year-old captain for 36. But Richa Ghosh gave India a thumping finish with her 17-ball 34, taking 18 off Rubab’s last four deliveries. No one came close to a similar show of power for Pakistan.
