Women's World Cup: Handshakes and rain in focus as India take on Pakistan

After the three India-Pakistan clashes in the men’s Asia Cup, the focus now shifts to the women’s teams as they meet in the group stage of the Women’s World Cup in Colombo on Sunday.

All eyes will be on the two captains during the toss as Harmanpreet Kaur is expected to maintain India’s ‘no-handshake’ policy set rolling by the men’s team in the Asia Cup.

India will be looking to extend their unbeaten record against Pakistan in ODIs to 12 games. Having won their opening match against Sri Lanka, the Indian side will enter the contest brimming with confidence.

However, the collapse of the top-order, with three wickets falling in the same over against left-arm spinner Inoka Ranaweera, was an eye-opener for the side. In the opener, it was Amanjot Kaur and Deepti Sharma who took India from troubled waters to a match-winning position.

The Indian batters have to overcome a similar challenge against a Pakistan attack led by Diana Baig and Fatima Sana, who took 12 wickets for Pakistan in the qualifiers. The two teams will be meeting for the first time since the 2022 Women’s World Cup.

“There’s a lot of information available, footage and patterns on how a team is playing. You can derive plans out of it. We take every game on its merit and prepare with the best possible mindset,” said bowling coach Aavishkar Salvi. “The players have been told to work on their plans, be clear with whatever they want to achieve, both as a group and individually.”

Asked about India’s no-handshake policy, Salvi said: “The focus is only cricket.”

With Pakistan collapsing to 129 against Bangladesh at the same venue, India would be hoping for their bowlers to dominate as well. The Indian side has a great number of bowling options.

“It’s a long campaign and we may need the services of any of them. So, whenever rest or recovery is required, we will manage it accordingly. The spinners give us a good combination. They’ve been playing together for the last three-four series, and the chemistry is really working well for us. Depending on the conditions, we will take a call on which spinners to play,” said Salvi.

The last time India played at the R Premdasa Stadium was during the Tri-series in May with Sneh Rana being adjudged the Player of the Tournament. “That was a very good experience playing in these conditions,” said Salvi.

Pakistan skipper Sana maintained that records are meant to be broken. “The existing records are meant to be broken. It’s not that Pakistan will never win against India,” said Sana.

“We believe in playing good cricket no matter who the opponent is. So we won’t think about history, we’ll focus only on the day we play,” she added.