ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024: The Importance of India Dominating Pakistan - Analyzed and Explained

New Delhi: India faced a setback in their first match of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024, suffering a 58-run loss to New Zealand. With no points from their opening game, the team led by Harmanpreet Kaur currently occupies the bottom spot in Group A. In order to stay in contention for a spot in the semifinals, India will need to secure a convincing victory against Pakistan. The highly-anticipated match against arch-rivals Pakistan is scheduled for Sunday in Dubai.

India enjoy a healthy 5-2 head-to-head record against Pakistan in the Women’s T20 World Cups. But on Sunday, things will be different for India as a big-margin win will boost up their Net Run Rate (NRR). India have an NRR of -2.9 while Pakistan, sitting on third with a win, have +1.55.

With two losses in as many games, Sri Lanka are fourth and are virtually out of semifinals contention. In order to enter the top two in the group and qualify for the semifinals, India need to win all their remaining three matches, including their final pool game against defending champions Australia.

A loss against Pakistan would could effectively end India’s hopes of a semifinal place. Even if India win their final two games, and Pakistan lose their remaining two, which would bring both teams on four points each. After the Pakistan clash, India play Sri Lanka (October 9) and Australia (October 12).

India have showed they have the potential to fight at the top level in the past few years but lacked that final push. They reached the final in 2020 and qualified for the semifinals in 2023, losing to eventual winners Australia on both occasions.

Meanwhile, middle-order batter Jemimah Rodrigues urged India to ‘move on’ from the forgettable defeat against New Zealand. “This would be the game we would like to forget, because this is a World Cup. We need to keep moving on and keep picking ourselves up. We can’t stay stuck at this game. I think that will show the character of this team,” Rodrigues said.

“We have been doing really well as a team, sticking to the process and taking one game at a time. We know every game from here is so crucial for us. We’re going to go one game at a time and just make sure we stick to our process. And I think if we can do that, if we play our best cricket, I think we can win matches,” she added.