India vs Pakistan, Women's T20 World Cup 2023 Highlights: Jemimah, Richa help India crush Pakistan by 7 wickets

On Pakistan's front, Nida Dar will be the player to watch out for. Pakistan go into the competition having a played a series against Australia. They beat Bangladesh in their opening warm-up match before losing to South Africa.

Barring Renuka Singh, the bowling unit doesn't inspire a lot of confidence. Veteran Shikha Pandey is yet to pick a wicket since her comeback last month and will be fired up to provide early breakthroughs in the showpiece. The performance of the spinners has also been below expectations of late. The role of pace bowling all-rounder Pooja Vastrakar will also be critical to India's chances in the tournament.

India come into the World Cup having lost the recent tri-series final to South Africa, a match they should have won. They also lost the warm-up game to Australia before beating Bangladesh.

Star India opener Smriti Mandhana will miss team's opening fixture due to a finger injury, stand-in coach Hrishikesh Kanitkar confirmed on Saturday. Mandhana got injured while fielding during the warm-up game against Australia earlier this week and is still recovering, the coach said.

Pakistan had got the better of India their last meeting in the Asia Cup last year with the latter making too many experiments.

Searching for a long overdue ICC title, India will look to hit the straps in their tournament opener against the arch-rivals. An Indo-Pak contest always creates excitement but with India being a much superior side, the quality of cricket might not meet the high expectations.