India lost Shafali Verma and Jemimah Rodrigues to stutter to 30 for 2 at the end of the fifth over in their opening Women’s T20 World Cup encounter against arch-rivals Pakistan in Birmingham on Sunday (June 14, 2026).

Verma (6) hit a six off left-arm spinner Sadia Iqbal but the bowler had the last word as she fired one on leg and middle line to cramp the batter who edged it to keeper Muneeba Ali.

Jemimah’s short stay (1) was a struggle and she was out trying to loft left-arm seamer Tasmia Rubab but only managing a skier which was taken by Natalia Pervaiz on second attempt.

However, Smriti Mandhana looked in good touch reaching 20 by the end of the fifth over.

India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur won the toss and elected to bat against Pakistan in their Women’s T20 World Cup opener.

Both the captains — Harmanpreet and her Pakistan counterpart Fatima Sana — expectedly did not shake hands at the toss.

India have included Bharti Fulmali in the eleven for the match.

Teams:

India: Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur, Bharti Fulmali, Richa Ghosh (wk), Deepti Sharma, Arundhati Reddy, Kranti Gaud, Shree Charani, Shreyanka Patil

Pakistan: Gull Feroza, Muneeba Ali(w), Ayesha Zafar, Saira Jabeen, Aliya Riaz, Natalia Pervaiz, Fatima Sana(c), Rameen Shamim, Nashra Sandhu, Tasmia Rubab, Sadia Iqbal.