Indian, Pakistani women play each other at New Delhi on March 19

New Delhi, March 19: While Mahendra Singh Dhoni's team will take on Pakistan in a crucial match at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, India's women cricketers led by Mithali Raj will also lock horns with their Pakistani counterparts at the Feroze Shah Kotla ground here on Saturday (March 19).

Photos

Thundershower predicted in India-Pakistan men's World T20 game " title="Preview: India vs Pak men's match at T20 World Cup
Thundershower predicted in India-Pakistan men's World T20 game " />Preview: India vs Pak men's match at T20 World Cup
Thundershower predicted in India-Pakistan men's World T20 game

Indian eves have 3-1 lead over Pak in T20 World Cup

The Indian women have won five of their six previous meetings with Pakistan in t20 cricket and have a 3-1 lead over their opponents in the T20 World Cup. Their only loss to Pakistan came in the 2012 edition when they lost by just one run.

mithali raj sana mir — (Left) Mithali Raji and Sana Mir: Captains of the India and Pakistani women's cricket team, respectively. PTI

India got off to a flying start in this year's World T20 by thrashing Bangladesh by 72 runs at Bengaluru. Pakistan, on the other hand, lost closely to the West Indies by four runs in their opening match. The scenario in the women's World T20 is a complete obverse to what it is in the men's tournament.

First India-Pak women's match under contract systems

India have also not lost any of their eight one-day internationals played against Pakistan. Saturday's match will also be the first women's India-Pakistan match after the beginning of the central contracts.

This year, India's women's cricket saw the beginning of the professional era with 11 cricketers being paid between Rs 10-15 lakh. Pakistan was quicker on this aspect as they started the central contracts in 2011 after the team won a gold in the 2010 Asian Games. The Pakistani women also won the gold at the 2014 Asian Games.

The match begins at 3.30 pm IST.

Squads:

INDIA: Mithali Raj (captain), Ekta Bisht, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Jhulan Goswami, Thirush Kamini, Harmanpreet Kaur, Veda Krishnamurthy, Smriti Mandhana, Niranjana Nagarajan, Shikha Pandey, Anuja Patil, Deepti Sharma, VR Vanitha, Sushma Verma (wk), Poonam Yadav.

PAKISTAN: Sana Mir (captain), Bismah Maroof, Nida Dar, Sadia Yousuf, Nain Abidi, Sidra Nawaz (wk), Aliya Riaz, Sidra Ameen, Iram Javed, Asmavia Iqbal, Nahida Khan, Muneeba Ali, Anam Amin, Diana Baig, Ayesha Zafar.

Oneindia News