Cricket: Pakistan and India to face off in the upcoming women’s ODI in England


Cricket: Pakistan and India to face off in the upcoming women’s ODI in England
Delhi, 2016: Pakistan women’s cricket team: Can they repeat the win?

An Indian cricket fan weighs the odds of the Pakistan women’s cricket team emerging victorious and shares a secret conflict

By Samir Gupta

By Samir Gupta

With the 11th edition of the International Cricket Council (ICC) Women’s Cricket World Cup underway in England that eight teams qualified to participate in, India and Pakistan are set to face off this coming Sunday, 2 July 2017. Will the Pakistan women’s cricket team script a David vs Goliath story like their male colleagues did in the ICC Champions Trophy recently? Can they win against a team they have never beaten in one day international (ODI) cricket?

First, some facts. The Indian women’s cricket team has trounced Pakistan in nine ODI cricket matches played in the past twelve years, and has a win/loss record of 26/34 against England, 16/27 against New Zealand and 8/33 against Australia. The Pakistan women’s cricket team has also never won an ODI match against the top three teams Australia, England and New Zealand in 24 matches.

India’s openers hold the current world record of 320 runs in an ODI match and the team just won against England in the World Cup opener in England. Opening bowler Jhulan Goswami is the highest wicket taker in the history of women’s cricket.

In men’s cricket, Pakistan had a superior overall record against India but India has had the upper hand in the last ten years.

The Pakistan women’s team, however, might take inspiration from their first win against India, at the 2012 World Cup T20 match in Galle, Sri Lanka. They also won the last time they faced India, at the ICC Women’s Twenty20 (T20) World Cup in Delhi in 2016. Both ICC events were close wins for Pakistan, which scraped by spectacularly, with one run and two runs respectively.

Captain Sana Mir: A tough act to follow

Captain Sana Mir: A tough act to follow

Pakistan captain Sana Mir rallied her team through tight spin bowling and committed fielding for their second ever T20 win against India, and that too on the losing team’s home ground. The shock of losing that match sent the Indian women’s team hurtling down to an unprecedented seventh place in the World Cup — their worst ever finish in an ICC event. The Pakistan men’s team lost to India that time. Pakistanis said the women had redeemed their honour.

As a proud Indian and an avid follower of the game, I wouldn’t give Pakistan much of a chance at the upcoming ODI, a tougher format than T20. Miracles would not be miracles if they happened frequently.

But secretly something inside me, perhaps the idealist side, wants to see another underdog win – especially if it’s Pakistan.

Samir Gupta is an IT professional and peace activist based in Ghaziabad, India. Email: [email protected].




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