Pakistan look to tame hot favourites India tonight

At 6.30 pm (PST) today, Pakistan will take on old foes India in a high-voltage game of the women's Asia Cup 2024 in Dambulla, Sri Lanka. It’s the opening game of the eight-nation tournament for both the teams and the form book suggests that India will be the favourites as Pakistan have been completely out of sorts in recent times.

Though Nida Dar, who has replaced Bismah Maroof as Pakistan’s captain, sounded upbeat ahead of the key game, chances of her team upsetting India tonight look bleak.

That’s because Pakistan go into the Asia Cup with back-to-back series defeats against the West Indies and England. In their last 14 white-ball outings, Pakistan have just one win to their credit.

Will the changes work?

Pakistan’s poor run in the lead up to the Asia Cup forced the country’s cricket authorities to ring the changes. Six of the players who toured England were dropped while former Test batsman Mohammad Wasim was appointed as the new head coach, the third man in 12 months to be handed the job. Junaid Khan and Abdur Rehman were roped in as assistant coaches ahead of the Asia Cup.

It remains to be seen whether the changes in the squad and a new coaching staff will end Pakistan’s losing streak in the white-ball format. At the previous edition of the 2022 Asia Cup in Bangladesh, Pakistan reached the semi-finals before falling to Sri Lanka by one run in a last-four thriller in Sylhet. The high point for Pakistan in 2022 was their stunning triumph against India, who went on to win the Asia Cup.

'Our aim is to play fearless cricket'

Ask Nida Dar and she will tell you that her team would go all out for the title in Sri Lanka.

“As a captain I am looking forward to give my best,” she stressed ahead of the game against India. “We have worked very hard in the camp and tried to overcome all the weaknesses in the team.

“Our aim is to play positive and fearless cricket. We intend to remain positive in our approach and showcase our abilities according to the requirements of the conditions here,” she added.

Nida and her team-mates trained for 11 days in Karachi before reaching Sri Lanka and the skipper believes that the camp has helped the team ready for the Women’s Asia Cup.

This year that the Women’s Asia Cup has a larger field of eight teams. Pakistan have been drawn in Group ‘A’, along with India, UAE and Nepal. Bangladesh, Malaysia, Thailand and Sri Lanka have been bracketed together in Group B.

After today’s game against India, Pakistan will take on Nepal on July 21 and the UAE on July 23. The top two teams from each group will advance to the semi-finals, with the final set for July 28.