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will be eyeing to have a great start in the tournament.
The 4th-ranked Indian team will enter the tournament India as favourites and will be expected to defeat Pakistan (8). However, the sharpness of their performance in their tournament opener will give the idea of how the mega event could turn out for them.
The Indian team reached New Zealand a month earlier in order to acclimatise to the conditions. The batting unit did a decent job putting runs in the recently-concluded white-ball series but it was the bowling department that led down the team.
Apart from Jhulan Goswami, who has been impressive, the other Indian bowlers have looked ordinary and failed to defend scores of 270 and 279 in successive games against New Zealand which is a big concern ahead of the marquee event. Without the experienced Shikha Pandey, Meghna Singh, Renuka Singh Thakur and Pooja Vastrakar will have to step up and support Goswami, who has continued to keep things tight.
Even though the batting unit was able to put 250+ scores several times against New Zealand, the likes of Harmanpreet Kaur and Shafali Verma have not been consistent enough and far away from their best. The other concern is that India may or may not have zeroed in on their best XI. Yastika Bhatia was seen as the No. 3 before Deepti Sharma moved up to take the spot in New Zealand.
On the other hand, Pakistan have built a settled bowling line-up and if the batters can follow the bowlers’ example, the team can give tough competition to the Mithali Raj-led side. Notably, Pakistan have gone winless at the last two ODI World Cups, and go into this tournament far from being the favourites.
In the last edition of the 2017 Women’s World Cup, India lost to England narrowly in the final. And this time, India will be eager to go one step ahead and claim the title that has eluded them, especially for skipper Mithali Raj and veteran pacer Jhulan Goswami, who will be playing their last World Cup.
(With Agency Inputs)
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