In Women’s Asia Cup T20 Cricket, defending champions India beat Pakistan by seven wickets in their opening game of the tournament at Dambulla in Sri Lanka last evening.

Chasing a target of 109 runs, Indian eves overhauled the score with seven wickets in hand and 35 balls to spare. Indian openers Smriti Mandhana with 45 runs and Shafali Verma with 40 runs made valuable contribution for Women in Blue.

Earlier, opting to bat first, Pakistan were all out at 108 runs in 19.2 overs. Deepti Sharma scalped three wickets by giving away just 20 runs. Ameen made 25 runs while Tuba Hassan and Fatima Sana scored 22 runs each.

Renuka Singh, Pooja Vastrakar and Shreyanka Patil took two wickets each. Deepti Sharma was adjudged player of the match. India will next take on UAE tomorrow.

This marks the ninth edition of the continental cricket tournament, hosted by Sri Lanka, with eight participating nations divided into two groups of four teams each. During the group stage, teams will face each other once.

Harmanpreet Kaur’s India is drawn into Group A alongside Pakistan, Nepal, and the UAE, while hosts Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Thailand, and Malaysia form Group B. India clinched the last women’s Asia Cup in 2022 and holds a record of seven Asia Cup titles overall.