Pakistan women's team skipper Bismah Maroof has said she is hoping for the best ahead of the national side's T20 World Cup clash with arch-rivals India.
Pakistan are placed in Group 2 alongside England, India, Ireland, and West Indies. They will lock horns against arch-rivals India on 12 February at Newlands, Cape Town.
In the build-up to the T20 World Cup, Pakistan toured Australia for the ODI and T20I series.
Hosts Australia secured a clean sweep over the green shirts in the three-match ODI series, while the three-match T20I series was also won by Australia.
Despite the series loss, Bismah is hopeful for the best in the mega event.
"I think (the goal) is just to play to your potential on the day. I think it's a very different venue and a different situation, a different scenario we are in. So we’d like to give our best and let's hope for the best for the result," she said as quoted by the T20 World Cup website.
"For us, I think the players will take this as a normal match, but of course, the expectations are more on this match."
On the other hand, Harmanpreet Kaur said that the team has drawn inspiration from Shafali Verma and the India Under-19 World Cup team, who won the first competition on South African soil.
"We’re really happy that our under-19 team did really well, and we are also looking forward to our campaign. The winning momentum has started. We also want to continue with that," she said.
Pakistan will play their second match against Ireland at the same venue on 15 February.
Their third encounter in the group will be against West Indies on 19 February at Boland Park, Paarl, while they will feature against England in their fourth match of the group stage on 21 February at the Newlands, Cape Town.
On Wednesday, South Africa beat Pakistan by six wickets in the second warm-up match at Bolan Park in Paarl.
Opting to bat first, Pakistan posted 142 runs on the scoreboard before South Africa chased down the target in 18.2 overs.
Pakistan T20I squad:
Bismah Maroof (c), Aimen Anwar, Aliya Riaz, Ayesha Naseem, Diana Baig, Fatima Sana, Javeria Khan, Muneeba Ali (wk), Nashra Sandhu, Nida Dar, Omaima Sohail, Sadia Iqbal, Sidra Amin, Sidra Nawaz (wk) and Tuba Hassan
Reserves: Ghulam Fatima, Kainat Imtiaz, and Sadaf Shamas
- Bismah Maroof