Who: India vs Pakistan
What: ICC Ladies’s Cricket World Cup 2025
When: Sunday, October 5 at 09:30 GMT
The place: R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka
Learn how to comply with: Al Jazeera Sport could have reside build-up from 06:30 GMT forward of our textual content commentary stream.
Cricket might take the backseat on one more Sunday when India meet Pakistan within the ICC Ladies’s World Cup 2025 in Colombo amid lingering political stress between the South Asian neighbours.
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The eagerly awaited group-stage fixture will possible be bookended by questions surrounding the now-infamous handshakes between either side because the captains meet on the pre-match coin toss, and on the finish of the match, when each squads historically step again on the sector.
When India and Pakistan’s males’s groups met within the Asia Cup 2025, the Indian group and its captain didn’t shake fingers with their Pakistani counterparts in all three fixtures on the match, resulting in furore and backlash that marred the match.
A prime official of the Board for Management of Cricket in India (BCCI) has not dominated out a “no handshake” coverage for the Ladies’s World Cup fixture, as effectively.
“Whether or not there shall be handshakes, whether or not there shall be hugging, I can’t guarantee you of something,” BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia advised the BBC’s Stumped podcast.
“I can’t forecast something, however our relationship with that specific hostile nation is similar. There isn’t a change within the final week.”
‘Deal with the sport’
Whereas it could appear that cricket has been, as soon as once more, pushed into the background, each groups need to overlook the controversial build-up and give attention to the sport as an alternative.
“Clearly, we all know what’s taking place round us, however we attempt to keep centered on the sport as a result of the World Cup is an occasion each participant waits for,” Pakistan’s captain Fatima Sana mentioned on Saturday.
Sana, whose group have been comprehensively crushed by Bangladesh of their opening match, mentioned Pakistan will “give attention to the match and on what we’ve got come right here for” when requested to touch upon the “exterior noise”.
The final time India performed Pakistan on the Ladies’s World Cup, the gamers’ off-field interactions left an indelible mark on the sport and earned widespread reward from the followers.
On the 2022 match in New Zealand, Pakistan’s then-captain Bismah Maroof was surrounded by a bunch of Indian gamers as they cooed over her six-month-old daughter Fatima.
Jokes have been shared, selfies have been taken, and reminiscences have been made as gamers from the rival nations bonded exterior their dressing rooms effectively after the match was over.
Sana, who was a part of the Pakistan squad in 2022, was requested whether or not the gamers will miss the spirit and camaraderie from three years in the past.
“We attempt to keep wholesome relationships with each group,” Sana replied.
“What occurred with Bismah’s daughter, when everybody mingled and loved collectively – as gamers, all of us like such moments, however the principle factor is to remain centered [on the game].”
When the identical query was posed to India’s bowling coach Aavishankar Salvi, the journalist was notified that India is not going to reply it.
Nevertheless, Salvi did say that India – who beat Sri Lanka of their opening sport by 59 runs – may even “give attention to the cricket” on Sunday.
#Throwback to this lovely second from the 2022 World Cup involving Bismah Maroof’s daughter and Indian women ❤️#CricketTwitter pic.twitter.com/PuxFEC5O1Y
— Feminine Cricket (@imfemalecricket) April 25, 2024
‘The world shall be watching’
“We wish our women to take it simply as a sport as a result of the World Cup is an extended marketing campaign and there shall be plenty of video games coming our means,” he mentioned.
“Once you enter an enormous match, the world of focus is just cricket, and it’s good to have the gamers into a superb [head] house.”
The fixture is anticipated to attract enormous viewing figures and organisers will anticipate a sizeable crowd on the floor, as effectively.
Sana, who additionally led Pakistan of their match in opposition to India within the T20 World Cup 2024, admitted such elements make it a high-pressure fixture and one which “the entire world shall be watching”.
“There may be stress however the principle factor is how we deal with it. We’ll attempt to give attention to our sport, execute our plans, and play the way in which we’ve ready.”
What occurred within the final India vs Pakistan ladies’s cricket match?
The groups final met within the ICC Ladies’s T20 World Cup 2024 in Dubai, the place India emerged victorious by six wickets.
When was the final time Pakistan beat India in ladies’s cricket?
Pakistan have solely crushed India on three events, the final of which got here on October 7 on the T20 Ladies’s Asia Cup 2022. Nida Dar’s all-round efficiency sealed Pakistan’s 13-run win in Bangladesh.
Will it rain in Colombo throughout the India vs Pakistan match?
Rain is anticipated within the early hours of Sunday in Khettarama, the neighbourhood that homes the R Premadasa Stadium in Sri Lanka’s capital.
The climate will stay cloudy all through the day, with mild showers anticipated to return later within the night, as effectively. This might result in delays or disruption of play.
There was loads of rainfall on Saturday earlier than Sri Lanka’s match in opposition to Australia on the similar venue. The persistent rain led to the match being known as off with none play.
India vs Pakistan: Head-to-head in ladies’s ODIs
India maintain an 11-0 lead over their neighbours in ladies’s ODIs. All of India’s wins have include comfy margins, together with the 107-run victory on the ICC Ladies’s World Cup 2022 in New Zealand.
Gamers to observe: India
- Smriti Mandhana: Broadly considered the perfect limited-over batters in present-day ladies’s cricket, Mandhana has swept most girls’s ODI data prior to now two years. She is the top-ranked ODI batter by a distance and was the main run-scorer within the format in 2024. The Indian vice-captain has scored 4 ODI centuries in 2025, essentially the most by any participant within the present 12 months.
- Deepti Sharma: The all-rounder poses an equal menace with bat and ball, and has carried out effectively in opposition to Pakistan in earlier encounters. Sharma’s right-arm off-break bowling shall be an enormous menace for Pakistan’s batters. She took three wickets and scored 54 runs in India’s World Cup opening win in opposition to Sri Lanka on Tuesday.
Gamers to observe: Pakistan
- Sidra Amin: The veteran batter lately turned the highest ODI century-maker for her nation along with her sixth ton within the sequence in opposition to South Africa. She comes into the essential match with good run-scoring type and is considered the mainstay of Pakistan’s batting assault in opposition to a powerful Indian bowling line-up.
- Nashra Sandhu: The unassuming sluggish left-arm bowler has been Pakistan’s go-to spin possibility lately and is third on the checklist of prime ODI wicket-takers for her nation. Sandhu has taken 16 wickets in Pakistan’s 9 ODIs in 2025, together with six in a match in opposition to South Africa on September 22.
Type information: India
India entered the World Cup with a house sequence loss and an away sequence win within the bag. They have been examined by Sri Lanka within the match’s opening sport, however recovered effectively to start their World Cup marketing campaign with a win.
Final 5 ODIs (newest consequence first): W L W L W L
Type information: Pakistan
Pakistan’s type has dipped after their five-match unbeaten run at residence within the World Cup qualifiers, the place they beat Bangladesh, Thailand and the West Indies to e-book a spot on this match. Sana’s group misplaced a house ODI sequence to South Africa after which suffered a dramatic batting collapse of their opening World Cup sport in opposition to Bangladesh.
Final 5 ODIs (newest consequence first): L W L L W
Staff information: India
India are anticipated to call an unchanged XI for his or her second match of the match.
Predicted XI: Pratika Rawal, Smriti Mandhana, Harleen Deol, Harmanpreet Kaur (captain), Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (wicketkeeper), Amanjot Kaur, Sneh Rana, Kranti Goud, Shree Charani.
Staff information: Pakistan
Pakistan are more likely to area the identical XI that misplaced to Bangladesh, however there could possibly be a case for changing Natalia Pervaiz with in-form all-rounder Aroob Shah.
Predicted XI: Muneeba Ali, Omaima Sohail, Sidra Amin, Rameen Shamim, Aliya Riaz, Sidra Nawaz (wicketkeeper), Fatima Sana (captain), Natalia Pervaiz, Diana Baig, Nashra Sandhu, Sadia Iqbal.