Sometimes you lose a wicket even before you start playing. That’s exactly what’s happened to the Indian women’s cricket team. Facing arch-rivals Pakistan in Dubai, Harmanpreet Kaur’s Women in Blue will take the field without Pooja Vastrakar. The bowling all-rounder had a forgettable outing in India’s Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 opener against New Zealand, where she delivered just 6 balls and scored 8 runs from 7 balls.
Vastrakar trouble for India
Nonetheless, she’s been instrumental to Team India‘s success over the last few months. In a batting lineup with just 5 pure batters and only a few who possess power-hitting ability, Vastrakar’s absence will be heavily felt. In the 58-run thrashing at the hands of the Kiwis, the Indian top order failed and the pressure came onto the middle and lower order. They couldn’t handle it on October 3, and without Vastrakar, who has 4 fifties to her name in ODIs, it’ll be even tougher if the top-order misfired against Pakistan as well.
Injury signs
Now, nothing came out about Vastrakar after the first match, but she was given the ball just once that too in the first over of the New Zealand game, and then never returned to bowl. It seemed like a tactical decision as the all-rounder came out to bat. But, now, one has to wonder: did she injure herself during the last game and therefore wasn’t given the ball by Harmanpreet Kaur?
India’s Playing XI vs Pakistan
Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh (wk), Deepti Sharma, Arundhati Reddy, S Sajana, Shreyanka Patil, Asha Sobhana, Renuka Thakur Singh
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