- Pakistan made one change in Playing XI against India clash.
- Skipper Fatima Sana says focus solely on game.
- India enjoy unbeaten record against Pakistan in ODIs.
COLOMBO: Pakistan have won the toss and opted to bowl first against India in the sixth match of the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025 being played at the R Premadasa Stadium on Sunday.
Pakistan have made one change to the lineup that lost to Bangladesh, with Sadaf Shamas coming in for Omaima Sohail.
At the toss, captain Fatima Sana said: “We are going to bowl first because the weather is dry and the pitch looks good,” she said.
“We have great confidence after the qualifiers, and hopefully, we will play good cricket. Hopefully, on this pitch, 250 would be a good total to defend.”
Meanwhile, in a repeat of recent encounters during Men’s Asia Cup fixtures, there was once again no handshake between the captains of the Indian and Pakistani women’s teams before the match.
Pakistan suffered a massive defeat against Bangladesh in their first encounter of the tournament, while India managed to defeat Sri Lanka in the Women’s Cricket World Cup opener.
Today’s encounter is likely to be affected by rain, with forecasts predicting intermittent showers throughout the day.
Colombo has already seen heavy rainfall recently, and yesterday’s match between Sri Lanka and Australia was called off due to persistent showers.
Statistics show that Pakistan have never beaten India in women’s ODIs, with the two teams facing each other 11 times, where India has emerged victorious on all occasions.
The tournament is taking place from September 30 to November 2 in India and Sri Lanka, and Pakistan will play all their group-stage matches at the R Premadasa International Cricket Stadium in Colombo.
If Pakistan advance to the semi-final on October 29 and the final on November 2, both matches will also be held in Colombo.
Playing XIs:
Pakistan: Muneeba Ali, Sadaf Shamas, Sidra Amin, Rameen Shamim, Aliya Riaz, Sidra Nawaz (wk), Fatima Sana (c), Natalia Pervaiz, Diana Baig, Nashra Sandhu and Sadia Iqbal.
India: Pratika Rawal, Smriti Mandhana, Harleen Deol, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (wk), Sneh Rana, Renuka Singh Thakur, Kranti Gaud, Shree Charani.
