Pakistan look to history while India are papering over the cracks

Another sighting of what should be one of world cricket's great rivalries takes centre stage on day three of the Women's World Cup

Political disharmony may be denying us regular sightings of India and Pakistan in bilateral series but it isn't enough to keep them apart in major tournaments, with the Women's World Cup providing another taste of what should be one of world sport's great rivalries.

Arguably, the division between both nations is felt harder in the women's game at a time when high-pressure matches and top-level opponents are key to maintaining the exponential growth of the sport.

As the WBBL has proved and The Hundred surely will, regular exposure to full-throttle competition is a sure-fire way to carry on improvement. In that sense, it remains baffling that we are still without a proper women's Indian Premier League.

Since reaching the final in 2017 when they fell agonisingly short against England at Lord's, India have flat-lined. Results have been uneven, and though they ended Australia's long unbeaten ODI record they have flattered to deceive on the road.

An uncertain batting line-up is central to their status as outsiders for the title in New Zealand. Without Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma, Yastika Bhatia and Richa Ghosh represent an inexperienced trio. Add an out-of-form Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana and the extent of the problems comes into sharper focus.

Deepti Sharma was moved up to No.3 in the New Zealand series and alongside her obvious prowess with the ball and in the field looks like being the central figure.

^{Deepti Sharma starts the tournament as India's key player (SANKA VIDANAGAMA/Getty Images)}

"I think Deepti is a very you know, mentally very strong player," said captain Mithali Raj. "This is my personal opinion about her. 

"Because over the years from the time when she made her debut as a youngster, as a top quarterback where she's opened and she's gone one down and two down, she has a record partnership with Poonam Raut as an opener.

"And from there, whenever we shuffled her in the batting order, she's always come good in whatever order she has played. And she's never complained about getting a slot higher up the order.

"But having said that, she's the all-rounder in the side and a very important link between - in the composition of the 11, and I think in a couple of years - we've not really used her as a batter at the top, she's been exceptionally good with her off-spin.

"So this tournament, we're looking at using her as a pure all-rounder where she contributes up the order as well and with the bowling."

There is no hiding Pakistan's dismal record against India, having lost all 10 of their 50-over meeting and nine of their 11 T20 clashes.

Naturally, they are somewhat clinging to those victories, particularly the most recent in 2016 at the T20 World Cup in India.

^{Pakistan came through the qualifier by virtue of their ODI ranking (James Allen/Getty Images)}

Sidra Ameen, Muneeba Ali, Sidra Nawaz, Nidar Dar, Anam Amin and captain Bismah Maroof are the survivors from the XI who secured a two-run Duckworth Lewis Stern victory six years ago, biding for a repeat of history.

Maroof said: "That memory definitely it’s in our mind and we know that on a day if we can play 100 per cent of our potential, we can beat any team and it's just the same - we'll try to inculcate to our team and try to do it tomorrow as well."

Pakistan took the scenic route to their fifth World Cup. They were forced to settle for a place in the qualifier, mainly due to the series with India failing to take place. The points were shared and left Pakistan outside of the automatic qualifying places in the ICC Women's Championship.

The emergence of the Omicron Covid-19 variant then saw the qualifier cancelled, with the remaining berths determined by world ranking - an ICC decision that impacted on Thailand who did not have full ODI status and therefore no position in the standings. At the time of the ruling, Pakistan were third in Group B, with Thailand top, and poised to miss out on qualification.

"Of course, if we could have qualified it would be a really good booster for our team," said Maroof. "But having said that, yes we missed - that was a missed opportunity, against India - we couldn't play against them because of certain reasons. 

"But I think if we could have played it was very good for the subcontinent - the girls in the subcontinent, and now we are really looking forward in this World Cup. And we are really focused that we can put up a good show."