Team India began their Women’s World Cup 2026 campaign in fine style at Edgbaston in Birmingham on Sunday. Harmanpreet Kaur’s side beat Pakistan by a massive margin of 64 runs. Women in Blue totally outplayed their opponents, not just with the bat but also with the ball.
One of the key architects of the win was young wicketkeeper and batter Richa Ghosh, who scored 34 runs from 17 balls to help the Indians reach 170. Skipper Harmanpreet was asked at what number she would want to see Richa bat. To which she replied, “If it were in my hands, Iwould love to see her bat from the first ball.”
Indian skipper also said, “She (Richa) has a role to play with the bat, and she has been doing it well. Really happy with the way she batted today.” The right-handed batter added 45 runs for the sixth wicket with Deepti Sharma, which came off just 21 balls.
Earlier in the day, Smriti Mandhana led the charge with the bat, scoring 68 runs from 44 balls with nine boundaries and two sixes. Kaur batted well to score 36 off 35 balls while Deepti was not out on 12 runs from nine balls. Shafali Verma got off to a great start, hitting a six off Sadia Iqbal in the first ball of the match. But the bowler had the last laugh when she had the batter caught by Muneeba Ali in the fifth ball of the same over.
Deepti Sharma runs riot with the ball
28-year-old Sharma recorded her best figures in the T20I format as he finished with 5/10 from her four overs. Right-arm off spinner was pressed into attack in the fifth over and made an immediate impact by getting Gul Feroza and Ayesha Zafar out for 12 runs each in her first two overs.
Deepti’s fourth over of the day turned out to be the final moments of the game as she took three wickets to complete her fifer. Aliya Riaz and Tasmia Rubab were both caught by Jemimah Rodrigues in the deep while last batter Nashra Sandhu offered a simple catch to the Indian skipper to end proceedings.