Women's T20 World Cup 2026: Harmanpreet Kaur wins toss, elects to bat first against Pakistan

Harmanpreet Kaur (Pic: X/@BCCIWomen)

In the Women's T20 World Cup 2026 match against Pakistan, Team India's skipper Harmanpreet Kaur has won the toss and elected to bat first at the Edgbaston Stadium in Birmingham.

After winning the toss, Team India's skipper Kaur said, "We will bat first. I think it's a very good pitch to bat on, so we just thought let's bat and set a decent total on the board. (Does winning a World Cup give them confidence?) Well, I think we all are very excited. The last World Cup definitely has given us a lot of confidence and we just want to carry that confidence to this World Cup. (Have you been pleased with the build-up?) Yes, definitely. We have plugged a lot of areas and now it's only about playing good cricket and we are looking forward to that. Bharti's playing today. And yeah, Yastika did really well, but today we thought of going with Bharti. We are going with three spinners and two medium pacers".

On the other hand, Pakistan's captain Fatima Sana said, "I think if we had won the toss, we were going to bat first as well because it looks like a batting track. (Do you feel as if the batting unit is looking good?) Yeah, I think as a team, we are doing great in the batting and the bowling as well. So we know we have a good bowling unit, so we just need to improve in the batting side, so we are good to go. (The approach of their bowlers on this surface) Yeah, obviously, it looks like a batting track, but still, we have a good bowling unit. We have a good experienced bowling attack, so I think it will be a good contest. (Any key in or out for you for the team?) Yeah, we are going with Saira. She will be playing first time in the World Cup".

Women's T20 World Cup 2026, IND W vs PAK W: Confirmed Playing XIs

India: Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Bharti Fulamli, Richa Ghosh (WK), Deepti Sharma, Arundhati Reddy, Shreyanka Patil, Sree Charani, Kranti Gaud.

Pakistan: Gull Feroza, Muneeba Ali (WK), Ayesha Zafar, Saira Jabeen, Aliya Riaz, Natalia Pervaiz, Fatima Sana (C), Rameen Shamim, Nashra Sandhu, Tasmia Rubab, Sadia Iqbal.