Reigning champions India started their quest of their title defense of the Women's T20 Asia Cup with an impressive seven wicket win over arch rivals Pakistan at Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium, Dambulla Dambulla on Friday night.

 After having bundled out their neighbors for a under par score of 108 in the final over, the Harmanpreet Kaur led side achieved the target with 35 balls to spare due to an aggressive batting by her openers. Shafali Verma (40 off 29 balls ) and Smriti Mandhana (45 in 31) after a sedate start. The duo put on 85 for the first wicket before the Indian vice captain Smriti became one of the victims of leg spinner Syeda Aroob Shah. Shafali too was castled by Syeda after India had reached 100 in the 12th over and Nashra Sandhu soon saw the back off Dayalan Hemalatha (14) two runs later. Experienced campaigners Harmanpreet (5 not out) and Jemimah Rodrigues (not out) saw India cross the line with ease in the end.

Earlier all-rounder Pooja Vastrakar rocked the Nida Dar led Pakistan side by dismissing both her openers Gull Feroza (5) and Muneeba Ali (11) in consecutive overs inside powerplay with 26 runs on the board. The Pakistani batters struggled to score runs, let alone build partnerships as Indian bowlers Renuka Singh and Deepti Sharma, bagged two and three wickets respectively, at regular intervals to derail their opponents. Sidra Ameen (25) was the topped scorer and Fatima Sana quick fire unbeaten 22 in the end saw Pakistan who managed to reach 108 in the end.

Off-spinner Deepti Sharma who was named the Player of the Match said:" Really happy with the performance tonight. I executed my plan well and am pleased with the result. As a unit, we worked really hard, and after the South Africa series, I focused a lot on my bowling, so I'm happy with how I bowled tonight.It's always a wonderful feeling to take the wicket of their best batter, and I was very happy to dismiss Nida Dar.I didn't know about the milestone, but I'm happy with my performance."

Nida Dar, losing Pakistan Captain on the other hand said, “Well, the difference was in the power plays. We lost both power plays. We came back well but struggled for the majority of the game. I think we have to go back to the drawing board and come up with a strategy for the next game. Definitely, we need to plan better for the next matches. We can come back in the remaining two games."

A happy Harmanpreet KaurIndia Captain said, "Well, our bowlers and openers made it happen. The first game is always a pressure game, but we got the job done. It's important to set the tone in the first game, and whoever got the opportunity did well. When bowling, we talked about getting early wickets, and our bowlers delivered. Smriti and Shafali gave us a good start. As for the takeaway from this tournament ahead of the T20 World Cup, we just want to play well, give our best in the remainder of this tournament, and then think about the World Cup later."

Brief scores (Group A league match):

Pakistan - 108 all out in 19.2 overs (Sidra Ameen 25 (35b:3x4s), Tuba Hassan 22 (19b: 3x4s), Fatima Sana 22* (16b: 1x4, 2x6s); Deepti Sharma 3/20, Renuka Thakur 2/14, Shreyanka Patil 2/14, Pooja Vastrakar 2/31) lost to India - 109 for 3 in 14.1 overs (Smriti Mandhana 45 (31b: 9x4s, , Shafali Verma 40 (29b: 6x4s , 1x6), Dayalan Hemalatha 14 (11b: 3x4s); Syeda Aroob 2/9, Nashra Sandhu 1/20) by 7 wickets and 5.5 overs to spare. Player of the Match:  Deepti Sharma (India)