Pakistan elect to bat against India, Harleen comes in place of injured Mandhana

Cape Town: Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat against India in their opening ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Group B match here on Sunday.

The Harmanpreet Kaur-led India brought in Harleen Deol in place of Smriti Mandhana, who is out of the opening match after suffering a finger injury during a warm-up game against Australia.

Pakistan skipper Bismah Maroof said the decision to bat first was taken after looking at the wicket, which was dry.

Harmanpreet also said she would have opted to bat first had she won the toss. She hoped Mandhana should be fine for the second group game. Shikha Pandey did not find a place in the playing XI.

The teams:

Pakistan Women: Bismah Maroof (c), Javeria Khan, Muneeba Ali (wk), Nida Dar, Sidra Ameen, Aliya Riaz, Ayesha Naseem, Fatima Sana, Aiman Anwer, Nashra Sandhu, Sadia Iqbal.

India Women: Harmanpreet Kaur(c), Shafali Verma, Yastika Bhatia, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harleen Deol, Richa Ghosh (w), Deepti Sharma, Pooja Vastrakar, Radha Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Renuka Thakur Singh.