India women begin elusive trophy search with World Cup opener against Pakistan

India’s bowlers struggled compared to the batting unit, which managed to score in excess of 250 runs five times in the seven 50-over outings, including two warm-up matches

The Indian women's cricket would hope that its bowlers find top form to complement a solid batting unit's efforts when it begins its quest for an elusive ICC World Cup trophy with the opening match against arch-rivals Pakistan here on Sunday.

Runners up in the 2017 and 2005 editions, India are eager to go one step ahead and claim the title that has eluded them, especially skipper Mithali Raj and veteran pacer Jhulan Goswami, who will be playing their last World Cup.

The Indian team reached New Zealand a month earlier in order to acclimatise to the conditions.

However, the bowlers struggled compared to the batting unit, which managed to score in excess of 250 runs five times in the seven 50-over outings, including two warm-up matches.

The bowling unit let the team down throughout the series against New Zealand, which India lost 1-4. It failed to defend 270 plus targets in two games while it conceded a mammoth 191 in 20 overs in a rain curtailed match of the ODI series.

They did put up a much improved performance in the fifth ODI and the two warm-up games and Raj will hope that both the batting and bowling units can fire in unison.