Deepti Sharma spins India to 64-run win over Pakistan

India did not win this rivalry on noise or reputation. It won by controlling the middle overs, recovering from 18 for 2, and then letting Deepti Sharma’s spin dismantle Pakistan’s chase for a 64-run victory at Edgbaston in Birmingham.

In India’s opening match of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026, Smriti Mandhana anchored the rescue with 68, her fifth T20 World Cup half-century, as India rebuilt to 170 for 6. That total was later described as India’s highest in a T20 World Cup against Pakistan, and it gave the innings the kind of cushion that mattered once the pitch rewarded patience and rotation over risk.

Pakistan never settled into the chase. India’s slow bowlers kept the pressure on through the middle overs, and Pakistan lost seven wickets in a span of 31 runs as the innings collapsed to 106 all out. Deepti Sharma finished with 5 for 10, the best figures by an Indian in women’s T20 internationals, and the spell also carried her to the top of the women’s T20I wicket-taking chart.

That was the difference in a match that often swings on temperament as much as technique. Sharma said she kept changing her approach throughout the spell, saying, “I varied my pace in every ball,” and the variation repeatedly drew mistakes from Pakistan’s batters. Once Pakistan began losing wickets in clusters, India’s fielding only tightened the grip.

Richa Ghosh provided useful late impetus to India’s recovery after the early wobble, helping turn a salvage job into a score that forced Pakistan to take risks. Pakistan’s bowlers Sadia Iqbal and Fatima Sana each took two wickets, but neither could stop India from stabilizing long enough to post a defendable total.

The result also reflected the scale of the occasion. A crowd of 18,814 filled Edgbaston, the largest attendance ever for an ICC Women’s T20 World Cup group-stage match, underlining how much weight still sits on India-Pakistan cricket. In the end, the match was decided less by emotion than by discipline: India managed its innings better, bowled with more control, and kept its composure when the rivalry demanded it most.