DUBAI: India delivered an all-round performance against Pakistan to secure their maiden victory in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday.

Earlier, Indian bowlers excelled with the ball and restricted Pakistan women’s team to 105 in the highly-anticipated match.

Fatima Sana’s decision to bat first backfired as her side could only accumulate 105/8 in the allotted 20 overs.

The Green Shirts had a disastrous start to their innings as they lost opener Gull Feroza in first over of the match.

Later, Sidra Amin and Omaima Sohail perished within seven overs with the scoreboard reading 33/3.

Following the early debacle, Muneeba Ali offered some fight with her cautious 17-run knock before falling victim to Shreyanka Patil, leaving Pakistan in tatters at 41/4.

Meanwhile, all-rounder Aliya Riaz also failed to reach double figures as she fell victim to Arundhati Reddy.

Skipper Sana and Nida Dar then tried to settle things down, culminating with the former’s dismissal in the 14th over.

Pakistan kept losing wickets at regular intervals, while Dar (28) ticked the scoreboard singlehandedly until finally walking back to the dugout in the last over. Syed Aroob Shah scored a 17-ball fourteen taking the Sana-led team to 105.

Reddy bagged three wickets and Patil took two while Renuka Singh and Deepti Sharma and Asha Sobhana struck out one batter apiece.

Dar remained the top-scorer for Pakistan with a 34-ball 28.

Earlier, the Green Shirts won the toss and decided to bat first against the arch-rivals India.

India have to recover quickly after facing defeat against New Zealand in the opening match while the Sana-led side won against the Asia-Cup champions Sir Lanka by 31 runs on Thursday.

In regard to this match, Pakistan’s skipper, Sana while talking to ICC, said that she aims to continue the attacking brand of cricket her side has recently adapted against India.

“I have been watching that whichever team we played against — played attacking cricket,” Sana said ahead of the big contest.

Squads

Pakistan: Fatima Sana (c), Aliya Riaz, Gull Feroza, Muneeba Ali, Nashra Sundhu, Nida Dar, Omaima Sohail, Sadia Iqbal, Sidra Amin, Syeda Aroob Shah, and Tuba Hassan.

India: Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Smriti Mandhana (VC), Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh (WK), Arundhati Reddy, Renuka Singh, Asha Sobhana, Shreyanka Patil, and Sajana Sajeevan.

LAHORE: Pakistan on Sunday announced their playing XI for the first Test against England set to start at Multan Cricket Stadium on Monday (tomorrow). 

“This is our best playing XI […] Aamir Jamal’s inclusion will be beneficial. We have maintained our batting line-up to ensure consistency,” said red-ball captain Shan Masood while speaking at a press conference.

It is to be noted that three-match series is part of the ICC World Test Championship 2023-25 and will see the Men in Green eyeing a comeback in the longer format of the game after suffering a humiliating whitewash against Bangladesh last month.

Expressing his views on the upcoming match, Masood said that the visitors — who secured a 2-1 victory against Sri Lanka in September — have a balanced team and underscored the need to play strong cricket on the field.

Addressing England’s skipper Ben Stokes’ unavailability in the first Test, the captain said: “Stokes’s absence will definitely affect England, but their playing XI is still strong, he is one of the world’s best all-rounders.”

“England have good seamers,” he remarked.

“We have come close to losing in the past [….] A Test match is a five-day game, so you can’t have one strategy,” he added, noting that a rotation policy has to be introduced for workload management regarding the fast bowlers.

Suitable conditions for spinners, seamers

Meanwhile, expressing his views, England captain Ollie Pope said that the conditions were different in Multan and would help the spinners and seamers.

“It will be interesting to see how the pitch plays out […] The [team] plan depends on the pitch and will be chalked out accordingly, ” he said while speaking to the media.

Noting that England bowlers will try to get as many wickets as possible in these conditions, Pope underscored the significance for consistency in the performance of the spinners.

“We have two regular spinners meaning that we may not be required to test Joe Root’s skills [in bowling department,” he added.

“The Pakistan team, though not playing well recently, is a tough team nevertheless [and] with bowlers like Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah, we have to play good cricket,” remarked the England captain.

Playing XIs for first Test

Pakistan: Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel (vice-captain), Saim Ayub, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan (wicket-keeper), Salman Ali Agha, Aamir Jamal, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Abrar Ahmad

England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope (captain), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith, Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Jack Leach, Shoaib Bashir

LAHORE: Pakistan on Sunday announced their playing XI for the first Test against England set to start at Multan Cricket Stadium on Monday (tomorrow). 

“This is our best playing XI […] Aamir Jamal’s inclusion will be beneficial. We have maintained our batting line-up to ensure consistency,” said red-ball captain Shan Masood while speaking at a press conference.

It is to be noted that three-match series is part of the ICC World Test Championship 2023-25 and will see the Men in Green eyeing a comeback in the longer format of the game after suffering a humiliating whitewash against Bangladesh last month.

Expressing his views on the upcoming match, Masood said that the visitors — who secured a 2-1 victory against Sri Lanka in September — have a balanced team and underscored the need to play strong cricket on the field.

Addressing England’s skipper Ben Stokes’ unavailability in the first Test, the captain said: “Stokes’s absence will definitely affect England, but their playing XI is still strong, he is one of the world’s best all-rounders.”

“England have good seamers,” he remarked.

“We have come close to losing in the past [….] A Test match is a five-day game, so you can’t have one strategy,” he added, noting that a rotation policy has to be introduced for workload management regarding the fast bowlers.

Suitable conditions for spinners, seamers

Meanwhile, expressing his views, England captain Ollie Pope said that the conditions were different in Multan and would help the spinners and seamers.

“It will be interesting to see how the pitch plays out […] The [team] plan depends on the pitch and will be chalked out accordingly, ” he said while speaking to the media.

Noting that England bowlers will try to get as many wickets as possible in these conditions, Pope underscored the significance for consistency in the performance of the spinners.

“We have two regular spinners meaning that we may not be required to test Joe Root’s skills [in bowling department,” he added.

“The Pakistan team, though not playing well recently, is a tough team nevertheless [and] with bowlers like Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah, we have to play good cricket,” remarked the England captain.

Playing XIs for first Test

Pakistan: Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel (vice-captain), Saim Ayub, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan (wicket-keeper), Salman Ali Agha, Aamir Jamal, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Abrar Ahmad

England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope (captain), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith, Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Jack Leach, Shoaib Bashir

With memories of an astounding 3-0 series sweep in 2022, upbeat Ben Stokes-led England will play a three-match Test series against Pakistan starting on Monday.

England, currently ranked third in the world after winning five of their last six Test matches, take on a Pakistani team that is struggling after being humiliated by Bangladesh.

AFP Sport looks at some of the key talking points for the tourists ahead of the series, which starts in Multan.

Stokes to miss first Test

England last month wrapped up a 2-1 series victory against Sri Lanka without skipper Ben Stokes, but he remains the team’s undisputed leader and talisman.

The 33-year-old all-rounder misses the first Test after failing to recover from a torn hamstring and it remains to be seen whether he will bowl when he does return.

The inclusion of Stokes as a specialist batsman would alter the balance of the side England favoured in the recent Sri Lanka series, where they played five frontline bowlers.

The visitors could opt to replace one of their regular top order with the skipper but it is more likely they would play four specialist bowlers and rely on Joe Root’s off-spin to supplement the attack.

Stokes has not played for two months but he showed his worth against the West Indies, scoring three fifties in his last four innings of the series.

Bazball 2.0?

England’s tour of Pakistan in 2022 came in the first few heady months of the “Bazball” era — a method of all-out attack encouraged by Brendon McCullum, who had become coach earlier that year.

The visitors set the tone for the series on the first day in Rawalpindi, smashing a remarkable 506-4, with four men making centuries.

After England’s 4-1 series loss in India earlier this year, McCullum spoke about the need to “refine” their style and a less gung-ho approach of controlled aggression has paid dividends.

England demolished the West Indies 3-0 before beating Sri Lanka 2-1 on home soil.

“I think the style will work in Pakistan, for sure,” retired England bowling great Stuart Broad said ahead of the launch of Inside Lord’s, Marylebone Cricket Club’s new digital platform.

“It was a great tour to Pakistan in 2022. All the players really enjoyed it and ultimately, England’s batting group are wonderful players of spin.

“I think they’re really positive and aggressive, they can find the boundary and don’t get tied down by spin.

“England will have to play fast-paced cricket to force results over there because you generally do need five days to make something happen.”

Inexperienced squad members

The era of Broad and James Anderson is over for England, who are trying to build a new pace attack that can take the fight to India and Australia next year.

Chris Woakes is the senior paceman and enjoyed a superb summer at home but his figures in overseas Tests are poor, while express bowler Mark Wood is out of action.

Surrey seamer Gus Atkinson has enjoyed a remarkable start to his Test career, taking 34 wickets in his first six games.

But he, Matthew Potts and Olly Stone have just 19 caps between them and Brydon Carse will make his debut in Multan.

Aside from left-armer Jack Leach, who is back in the fold after being deemed surplus to requirements during the English season, the spin attack is also inexperienced.

Leach’s Somerset team-mate Shoaib Bashir has played just nine Tests while Rehan Ahmed has not featured since the India series, having made his debut in England’s memorable 2022 series win in Pakistan.

Broad warns that inexperience could cost the visitors.

“It’s very difficult to go into a Test match, particularly when Ben Stokes isn’t playing or not bowling with three very inexperienced bowlers because if it goes wrong and the spinner’s inexperienced you could lose a Test match in an hour,” he said.