Women's T20 World Cup 2024: High stakes for Harmanpreet Kaur as India battles Pakistan

Team India (Pic: @BCCIWomen/X)

Harmanpreet Kaur-led Team India approaches their crucial Women's T20 World Cup 2024 game against Pakistan with the knowledge that a defeat would likely spell the end of their tournament hopes.

After their opening loss to New Zealand, the side finds itself at the bottom of Group A, where only the top two teams will advance to the semi-finals. Currently, New Zealand and Australia occupy the top two spots, while Pakistan and Australia have each secured one victory. Sri Lanka, on the other hand, has lost both of its matches.

To have a chance at progressing, India must not only defeat Pakistan but do so by a significant margin to climb to third place in the group. They will also need to win their remaining matches and hope that at least one of either New Zealand or Australia drops a game, ultimately leading to a crucial battle of Net Run Rate. A loss, however, would complicate their path significantly, requiring them to win their next two matches against Sri Lanka and six-time champions Australia, while simultaneously relying on other teams to stumble.

Also Read: India look to iron out combination flaws, regain fight in crucial Pak showdown

Ahead of this highly anticipated encounter with Pakistan, India's bowling coach Aavishkar Salvi emphasized the importance of unity and self-belief. Speaking at a pre-match press conference, Salvi framed the match against their arch-rivals as a fresh opportunity. He urged the team to remain resilient, stating, "The next game is a fresh opportunity for us. The girls have gone through the grind and have been through this (similar results) before. We only tell them to stay strong, stay united, and believe in our abilities and plans."

Salvi also commended the team's fielding performance against New Zealand, noting significant improvement. "We have been working on it. If you see the results, the errors are lesser than what it was earlier So there has been a lot of improvement in that aspect. If you see the way we fielded yesterday, barring a few moments and a couple of deliveries, the rest of the time the speed of the girls was superb, the angle cutting was nice and the way they were moving across the field, that was great."