Women's T20l World Cup: Six players who made the difference in India's win over Pakistan

India began their ICC Women's T20 World Cup campaign with a clash against Pakistan at Edgbaston on June 14.

After a shaky start, India bounced back impressively to register a comfortable 64-run victory. Strong performances with both bat and ball helped the team overcome early setbacks and secure a convincing win.

Here are the standout performers from the match:

Smriti Mandhana

India had a weak start with Shafali Verma losing her wicket in the first over and Jemimah Rodrigues managing just one run. At that stage, Smriti Mandhana stepped up for India. She built the innings and played one of the most important knocks of the match.

Smriti scored 68 runs from 44 balls at a strike rate of 154. When India were in danger of losing control of the innings, she took responsibility and kept the scoreboard moving.

Her innings helped India recover from the early wickets and laid the foundation for a competitive total.

Harmanpreet Kaur

Captain Harmanpreet Kaur played an important role in helping India recover after the early setbacks. She scored 36 runs from 35 balls. While the score may not look very big, those runs came at an important stage of the innings when India needed stability.

Harmanpreet's partnership with Smriti added 91 runs and helped India move into a stronger position.

Richa Ghosh

At the end of the 19th over, India were 132-5, and it looked difficult for the team to even reach 170. Richa Ghosh changed the game with her powerful batting in the final overs.

The wicketkeeper-batter scored 34 runs from just 17 balls at a strike rate of 200. Her aggressive batting helped India move from 132-5 to 170-6 in the final 12 balls of the innings.

Deepti Sharma

Deepti Sharma contributed with both bat and ball during the match. She remained unbeaten on 12 runs from 9 balls and helped India finish strongly in the final overs. Her biggest contribution came with the ball.

Pakistan had reached 38 runs without losing a wicket when Deepti came into the attack.

She picked up a wicket in her very first over and continued taking wickets throughout her spell. Deepti finished with outstanding figures of 5 wickets for 10 runs and an economy rate of just 2.50. Her experience and skill were clearly visible throughout the innings.

Shree Charani

One of the biggest positives for India was the performance of debutant Shree Charani. Playing her first match for India, she picked up 3 wickets for 21 runs and bowled with an economy rate of 5.25.

The young bowler troubled the Pakistan batters throughout her spell and played a key role in India's victory.

Shreyanka Patil

While Shreyanka Patil did not take a wicket, she delivered an economical spell for India. She finished with an economy rate of 5.67 and helped keep the pressure on the Pakistan batters.

With contributions from experienced players like Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur, Richa Ghosh and Deepti Sharma, along with young players such as Shree Charani and Shreyanka Patil, India secured a convincing win over Pakistan to begin their T20 World Cup campaign.

India will play their next match against the Netherlands on June 17th.