Asia Cup 2024: Seeking title defence, India to face Pakistan Women in their opener

Colombo [Sri Lanka], July 18 : As the Women's T20 Asia Cup 2024 is set to commence in Sri Lanka from Friday, the Indian women's cricket team will be aiming to mount a successful title defence as they kick-off their campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan.
This will be the ninth edition of the continental cricket tournament and will feature the top eight cricket teams from across Asia.
The Indian cricket team won the last women's Asia Cup held in 2022 after defeating Sri Lanka by eight wickets in the final held at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium in Bangladesh.
Sri Lanka are the hosts this year and the eight participating nations have been drawn into two groups of four each. The teams will face each other once in the group stage.
India has been drawn into Group A along with Pakistan, Nepal and the UAE. India are scheduled to face Pakistan in their opening match of the Women's Asia Cup T20 2024 on July 19, before playing the UAE on the 21st and Nepal on 23rd.
Following the group stage, the top two teams from each group will qualify for the semi-finals. The semi-finals are scheduled for July 26 and the final will be held at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium on July 28.
Notably, India is the most successful team in Women's Asia Cup history, winning seven titles. Bangladesh has won once, while Sri Lanka has yet to win despite featuring in five finals. Pakistan has made it to the finals twice.
Harmanpreet Kaur will lead the 15-member India squad at the Women's Asia Cup T20 2024 while opener Smriti Mandhana will serve as the vice-captain.
India squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (captain), Smriti Mandhana (vice-captain), Richa Ghosh (wicket-keeper), Uma Chetry (wicket-keeper), Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma, Pooja Vastrakar, Arundhati Reddy, Jemimah Rodrigues, Renuka Singh Thakur, Dayalan Hemalatha, Asha Sobhana, Radha Yadav, Shreyanka Patil, Sajeevan Sajana.