Sri Lanka will be eyeing a semi-final spot at the T20 World Cup (File photo)  

Sri Lanka will take on Pakistan in their opening match of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup fixture at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium in the UAE today.   

Sri Lanka have never made it to the final of the Women’s T20 World Cup in the past eight editions. They recently put up a dominant show against Scotland in a warm-up fixture.

Boasting a strong bowling unit, Sri Lanka could be a huge threat to big teams competing at this event. Sri Lanka also will be eyeing the semi-final spot at the Women’s World Cup and a victory against Pakistan will help them generate some early momentum.

Pakistan, of course, have endured several heartbreaking defeats at the ICC event in the past editions. While their chances of making the playoff stage are still quite low, the Asian giants could pull off a few upsets in the campaign.

Pakistan failed to show up in the recent warm-up game against Bangladesh, losing the fixture by 23 runs. Omaima Sohail was the best batter on the Pakistan team, as she racked up 33 runs in the losing effort. It remains to be seen if they can catch Sri Lanka by surprise today.

In the pre-tournament warm-ups, Pakistan lost to Scotland by eight wickets and lost to Bangladesh by 23 runs while Sri Lanka beat Bangladesh by 33 runs and Scotland by five wickets respectively.

Sri Lanka, meanwhile, have won their last three T20I outings against Pakistan, including the semi-final of the Asia Cup this year.

Pakistan Squad: Fatima Sana (Captain), Aliya Riaz, Diana Baig, Gull Feroza, Iram Javed, Muneeba Ali (wk), Nashra Sandhu, Nida Dar, Omaima Sohail, Sadaf Shamas, Sadia Iqbal, Sidra Amin, Syeda Aroob Shah, Tasmia Rubab and Tuba Hassan.

Sri Lanka Squad: Chamari Atapattu (Captain), Harshitha Samarawickrama, Vishmi Gunaratne, Kavisha Dilshari, Nilakshika Silva, Hasini Perera, Anushka Sanjeewani (wk), Sachini Nisansala, Udeshika Prabodhani, Inoshi Priyadharshani, Achini Kulasuriya, Inoka Ranaweera, Shashini Gimhani, Ama Kanchana and Sugandika Kumari. 

(Agencies)