Women's World Cup 2022: India eye winning start to campaign, look to maintain perfect record vs Pakistan

Women's World Cup 2022: India begin their campaign against Pakistan, against whom they have not lost an ODI so far. Mithali Raj's side will be keen on making the most of the exposure they have had in New Zealand to get off to a strong start.

Mithali Raj and her team will begin their Women's World Cup 2022 campaign, hoping to end India's long wait for the elusive trophy, when they meet Pakistan in their opening match on Sunday 6. Having come close to winning the titles in 2005 and 2017, India will be hoping to go the distance and make sure their legends Mithali and Jhulan Goswami end their careers on a high.

The Indian team reached New Zealand a month earlier in order to acclimatise to the conditions. However, the results didn't go their way even as captain Mithali and head coach Ramesh Powar played down the defeats, saying they are only getting better with exposure to conditions in New Zealand.

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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 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.

India will head into their World Cup opener on the back of a 3-match winning run but skipper Mithali said they will not take Pakistan lightly.

India have never lost to Pakistan in an ODI match but Bismah Maroof, a much-improved side, will be looking to rewrite history.