Women's T20 Asia Cup: Defending champions India take on Pakistan in opener

Defending champions India will start the Women's Asia Cup T20 tournament against arch-rivals Pakistan in a blockbuster clash on Saturday.

The tournament will be the precursor to the upcoming women's T20 World Cup in October with teams hoping to find the best combinations.

Harmanpreet Kaur's India are the team to beat going into this iteration of the Asia Cup, having won the competition three out of four times in the T20 version and each of the four times in 50-overs format.

India is also the most successful in the Women's Asia Cup T20 with 17 wins in 20 matches. They beat Bangladesh in the final of the last edition in 2022.

In T20Is, India has a superior record against arch-rivals Pakistan with 11 wins against three defeats in 14 matches so far and Kaur's team will lean on it in addition to the rich form shown in recent outings to clinch the Group A clash.

The Indian team is coming in a rich vein of form after defeating South Africa in the ODI and Test series at home. In the T20I series, India drew 1-1 after the second T20I was washed out due to rain.

While India is coming off a 1-1 draw against South Africa earlier this month with the second of the three T20Is being washed out, Pakistan will be short on game-time as well as confidence since their last outing was in England in May when the hosts blanked them 3-0.

Smriti Mandhana's rich form with the bat will be India's greatest weapon at the top of the order but the biggest gain from recent all-format outings has been how their bowling has shaped up, with pacers and spinners putting on a combined show.

India pacer Pooja Vastrakar's eight wickets across three outings against South Africa indicate her form but additionally, Radha Yadav's successful return to the mix of spinners has been encouraging. The spin attack also includes Deepti Sharma, Sajeevan Sajana, and the sprightly Shreyanka Patil.