Birmingham, Jul 31 (IANS): India have included batter S Meghana and all-rounder Sneh Rana as Pakistan captain Bismah Maroof has won the toss and elected to bat first in a crucial Group A match of women's T20 event in the 2022 Commonwealth Games at Edgbaston.

The toss was delayed by almost 55 minutes due to rain and will now be an 18-overs a side affair. The power-play will be of five overs while three bowlers can bowl four overs and two bowlers can deliver three overs.

After winning the toss, Bismah said that all-rounder Nida Dar was out of the match due to concussion suffered during their 15-run loss to Barbados on Friday and is replaced by pace all-rounder Kainat Imtiaz. "It's a very important game to stay alive. Will like to put on a target. All looking forward to the match now," stated Bismah.

In India's playing eleven, Meghana comes in for Harleen Deol after recovering from a Covid-19 infection which delayed her arrival in Birmingham while Sneh come in for left-arm spinner Rajeshwari Gayakwad to boost the batting depth as pace all-rounder Pooja Vastrakar is still not available.

"Two changes because of the conditions. We wanted to bowl first only. In these conditions always better to chase due to DL rule. We want to go with same approach as Australia. We couldn't win that game but we played outstanding," said India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur.

Playing XIs

India: Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Yastika Bhatia (wicketkeeper), Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur (captain), Harleen Deol, Deepti Sharma, Radha Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Meghna Singh and Renuka Thakur.

Pakistan: Iram Javed, Muneeba Ali (wicketkeeper), Omaima Sohail, Bismah Maroof (captain), Aliya Riaz, Ayesha Naseem, Kainat Imtiaz, Fatima Sana, Tuba Hassan, Diana Baig and Anam Amin