New Delhi, India

The Women's Asia Cup kicks off on Friday (July 19) in Dambulla, Sri Lanka. Defending champions Harmanpreet Kaur-led India face Pakistan in the marquee encounter, which is Match 2 of the competition, as the big-ticket clash is expected to set the tone of the continental event. Ahead of the clash, skipper Harmanpreet spoke on playing against arch-rivals Pakistan. Notably, India enjoy a staggering 11-3 head-to-head record against Pakistan in WT20Is -- with the most recent win in the 2023 T20 World Cup in South Africa -- and, hence, they will start as overwhelming favourites. Harman stated that even though the game versus Pakistan is important, their focus is also on preparing for the upcoming T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in October.

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At the pre-match presser, Harmanpreet said, "We always enjoy playing against Pakistan but each and every team is important. Whenever we go and play, we always want to play good cricket, and we will follow the same method."

Also read: Women's Asia Cup 2024: All you need to know about Harmanpreet Kaur-led India's schedule

Further, the swasbuckling batter opined, "This tournament is very important for all of us because we give equal respect to this tournament and want to improve at the Asian as well as at the world level. So our focus will remain the same as we prepare for the T20 World Cup or any other World Cup. Each and every game is important for us and we will try to give our best."

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"The challenge will be to keep doing the right things which we have done in the past Asia Cups, keep playing the same type of cricket, and keep dominating other teams and enjoy our cricket,” Harmanpreet added.

India are placed in Group A alongside Pakistan, Nepal and UAE whereas hosts Sri Lanka, former champions Bangladesh, Malaysia and Thailand are in Group B. 

India squad:

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Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh (wk), Uma Chetry (wk), Pooja Vastrakar, Arundhati Reddy, Renuka Singh Thakur, Dayalan Hemalatha, Asha Sobhana, Radha Yadav, Shreyanka Patil, Sajana Sajeevan 

Travelling reserves: Shweta Sehrawat, Saika Ishaque, Tanuja Kanwer, Meghna Singh