Analysis for the match.

Match 4 of the 2023 Women’s T20 World Cup sees great rivals India Women take on Pakistan Women on Sunday afternoon in Cape Town. India Women finished as runners-up in the 2020 T20 World Cup and will be looking to go one step further this year. Pakistan Women have never got beyond the first round in this tournament. Read on as we preview this Group B game. This fixture gets underway at Newlands at 15:00 local time.

India Women’s players have far more big game experience than Pakistan Women’s and they will be very confident of getting off to a winning start in the tournament.

Pakistan Women come into this game without any pressure and most pundits will be tipping them to lose. However, they have beaten India Women over the last five months and will be keen to cause an upset.

Must see point.

1). India Women have won 10 out of the 13 matches they have played against Pakistan Women

2). Pakistan Women's batting is a bit weak in comparison to India

3). India's team has a lot more power

Match Prediction: IND-W to win the match.

1). If IND-W won the toss and opted to bat first,they could score 150-160 runs.

2). If PAK-W won the toss and opted to bat first, they could score 140-160 runs.

Secondary Predictions.

1). Smriti Mandhana total runs - Over 19.5 runs.

The 26 year old left-handed opener has scored over 2600 runs in this format. Two of her top four WT20I scores came in the second half of 2022.Smriti Mandhana has hit 20 half-centuries in this format and the opener is our pick for India Women’s highest run scorer on Sunday afternoon.

2). Bismah Mahroof total runs - Over 19.5 runs.

Bismah Mahroof has scored 2560 WT20I runs and the captain is a strong choice for Pakistan Women’s highest run scorer against India Women. Nida Dar is a fine spin bowler who often outperforms her team-mates.

3). Deepti Sharma total wickets - Over 1.5 wickets.

After already performing well in South Africa this year, we recommend backing Deepti Sharma to take over 1.5 wickets in this clash.

Match Preview.

India Women have benefited greatly from increased exposure to cricket around the world as well as increased investment in the infrastructure for them around the country. We would consider India as being among the top-tier sides quite comfortably, something it struggled with till not too long back. 

Smriti Mandhana, Hamrmanpreet Kaur, and Shafali Verma are the three big-name batters in the team but there is a fair bit of depth in the lineup as well thanks to the emergence of Harleen Deol, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, and Yastika Bhatia. 

We have also seen India start to play with more aggression in the recent past thanks to the confidence they have in their lineup. 

Renuka Singh, Shikha Pandey, Pooja Vastrakar, Radha Yadav, and the all-rounders will form the bowling unit. This is a strong bowling lineup with a lot of experience. One of the key things in an India-Pakistan contest is handling the pressure and that is something this Indian team will be able to do.

Pakistan Women will have good memories of their previous match against the Indian Women. They beat them in the Asia Cup, just their third win over India in thirteen attempts. Pakistan's team has been quite stable for some time now and that can be seen as both a good and a bad thing. 

The team's senior players have a lot of experience and know each other's strengths but a stable team also means that the talent pipeline is not strong enough to dislodge the incumbents. 

Javeria Khan and Bismah Maroof are the leading batters for the team with Aliya Riaz, Nida Dar, Omaima Sohail, and Muneeba Ali to back them up. We think the middle order for Pakistan is quite strong and can put up a fight but it lacks the power that India has. 

Pakistan will be at a disadvantage if the conditions are high-scoring. 

Among the bowlers, Aiman Anwer, Ayesha Naseem, and Nashra Sandhu are a young crop of bowlers that are all quite talented. They will be tested in this match but we do expect them to get some blows in.

Match details.

Time - Feb 12th, 10:30 pm, IST.

Venue - Newlands - Cape town, South Africa 

Pitch reports.

There is no rain predicted in Cape Town for this match. The weather should be quite good for cricket. 

As far as the surface goes, there is no doubt in our minds that a flat batting deck will be offered up. The batters from both sides will enjoy the ball coming on to the bat and the fast outfield. A score of around 150 should be seen as just par. 

Team News.

India Women>>

After going all the way to the final in front of 86,174 at the MCG in the 2020 Women’s T20 World Cup, India Women will be determined to get off to a strong start in this year’s tournament. Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur proved her fitness during the Tri-Nation Series and will lead the team.Although India Women lost their last game of the Tri-Nation Series, they played some excellent cricket on the journey to the final.

Possible XI - Yastika Bhatia, Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harleen Deol, Harmanpreet Kaur, Pooja Vastrakar, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh, Renuka Thakur, Radha Yadav, Shikha Pandey

Pakistan Women>>

Bismah Maroof’s side were well beaten by Australia Women last month across WODIs and WT20Is but they will be better for the experience of playing against top quality players. Pakistan Women have no injury worries and will relish the underdog tag in this game.Pakistan Women have won only one of their last five matches in this format.

Possible XI - Muneeba Ali, Sidra Ameen, Bismah Maroof, Nida Dar, Ayesha Naseem, Aliya Riaz, Omaima Sohail, Kainat Imtiaz, Fatima Sana, Tuba Hassan, Nashra Sandhu