Fatima Sana rues Pakistan's 64-run loss to India
fatima sana did not hide Pakistan’s problems after India beat her side by 64 runs in the Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 opener at Edgebaston on Sunday. Pakistan were outplayed in both innings, and the captain pointed straight at batting and fielding errors that must be cleaned up quickly.
Edgebaston leaves Pakistan chasing fixes
India posted 170 for six after choosing to bat first, then held Pakistan to 106 in 17 overs. Deepti Sharma did the damage with 5 for 10, while India’s spinners combined for nine wickets and kept Pakistan from building any meaningful reply.
Fatima Sana said the chase never really got moving once Pakistan fell behind the required rate. Her side had been in control for much of the first innings, she said, before giving away extra runs in the final overs.
Mandhana punishes dropped chances
Smriti Mandhana led India with 68, supported by Harmanpreet Kaur’s 36 and Richa Ghosh’s 34. Pakistan also paid for missed chances in the field, dropping Mandhana twice — first on 27 by Aliya Riaz and then on 55 by Saira Jabeen.
Those errors sat at the center of Fatima’s post-match assessment. “I think it’s really disappointing (on the batting side). We need to step up in the next matches because we still have a long way to go in the World Cup. (On what went wrong in the field) I think we were good until the last 15 overs. After that, we gave away some extra runs. We’ll try to improve on those things in the next matches” she said.
Fatima Sana sets the tone
She was just as direct about the fielding. “(On fielding) Obviously, catches win matches. Unfortunately, we dropped catches. I think we need to improve both our bowling and fielding in the next match, as mistakes in the field can cost the match” Fatima said.
Pakistan’s opening defeat leaves the captain with a short list of fixes: better batting output, cleaner catching, and fewer late overs surrendered. With India already 1-0 from the start of the tournament, Pakistan now have to make those corrections fast if they want the rest of the campaign to look different from Sunday.
