The Indian
women’s cricket team will begin their quest for a maiden ICC World Cup title
with a mouth-watering opening clash against arch-rivals Pakistan in Mount Maunganui
on Sunday.

Runners up
in the 2017 and 2005 editions, India are eager to go one step ahead and claim
the title that has eluded them, especially skipper Mithali Raj and veteran
pacer Jhulan Goswami, who will be playing their last World Cup.

The Indian
team reached New Zealand a month earlier in order to acclimatise to the
conditions.

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However,
the bowlers struggled compared to the batting unit, which managed to score in
excess of 250 runs five times in the seven 50 over outings, including two
warm-up matches.

The bowling
unit let the team down throughout the series against New Zealand, which India
lost 1-4. It failed to defend 270 plus targets in two games while conceded a
mammoth 191 in 20 overs in a rain curtailed match of the ODI series.

The pace department will be led by the ever-reliable Goswami, who has continued to pick wickets for India regularly while the likes of Meghna Singh, Pooja Vastrakar and Renuka Singh would need to do more to complement the veteran quick.

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Deepti Singh, who was the leading wicket-taker in the bilateral series, will lead the spin attack along with Rajeshwari Gayakwad. 

Meanwhile, pressure will be on opener Shafali Verma, who has seemed off colour, to provide a solid start alongside Smriti Mandhana, a batter in fine touch.

Raj, who continues to anchor the Indian innings, has hinted that Deepti, who has been in good nick with the bat and ball, will be batting at the top at either number 3 or 4 while Kaur is expected to bat at five.

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Richa Ghosh will shoulder a lot of responsibility given her form, scoring consecutive fifties against New Zealand.  

Pakistan, on the other hand, are the lowest ranked team in the tournament. They qualified for the World Cup owing to their ranking after the qualifiers were cancelled midway last year due to COVID-19.

Having ended three times at the bottom, Pakistan’s best-ever finish at the World Cup had come in 2009 when they reached the Super 6 stage. They will be hoping they can make the knockouts in this edition.