Delhi: The Indian women's cricket team will face its arch rival Pakistan in the first match of the Asia Cup on Friday. Under the captaincy of Harmanpreet Kaur, the Indian team has always dominated the Asia Cup. This time the Asia Cup will be played in Sri Lanka and it is important for the preparations for the ICC T20 World Cup to be held in October.

The Women's Asia Cup 2024 will be held in T20 format. India has won 17 out of 20 matches played in this tournament. In 2022, India defeated Bangladesh in the final. Team India's record against Pakistan has also been excellent, where it has won 11 out of 14 matches. Captain Harmanpreet Kaur's goal will be to improve this record further. Pakistan was defeated 3-0 by England in May, due to which their morale would be slightly down.

The best news for India is the excellent form of Smriti Mandhana and recently the Indian bowlers have also performed well. Fast bowler Pooja Vastrakar took eight wickets in three matches against South Africa, while spinner Radha Yadav has also been successful. Deepti Sharma and Shreyanka Patil are also included in the spin bowling.

Pakistan has retained Nida Dar as captain for the Asia Cup, but many changes have been made in the team. Iram Javed, Omaima Sohail and Syeda Arub Shah have been included in the team for the first time. Before the India-Pakistan match, Nepal and United Arab Emirates (UAE) will face each other in Group A. The top two teams from both the groups will play in the semi-finals.

The two teams are as follows:

India: Harmanpreet Kaur (Captain), Smriti Mandhana, Shefali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh, Uma Chhetri, Pooja Vastrakar, Deepti Sharma, Arundhati Reddy, Renuka Singh, D Hemalatha, Asha Shobhana, Radha Yadav, Shreyanka Patil, Sanjeevan Sajana.

Pakistan: Nida Dar (captain), Aliya Riaz, Diana Baig, Fatima Sana, Gul Feroza, Iram Javed, Muniba Ali, Naziha Alvi, Nashra Sandhu, Omaima Sohail, Sadia Iqbal, Sidra Amin, Syeda Arub Shah, Tasmia Rubab, Tooba Hassan.