Pakistani and Indian girls’s workforce gamers shake palms after World Cup at Newlands Stadium in Cape City on February 12, 2023. — AFPPakistan skipper Fatima Sana says focus solely on recreation.India take pleasure in unbeaten document towards Pakistan in Ladies’s ODIs.No handshakes anticipated as BCCI hints at persevering with coverage.
COLOMBO: Pakistan and India are set to face off right this moment in a much-anticipated match of the continuing ICC Ladies’s Cricket World Cup on the R Premadasa Stadium in Sri Lanka’s Colombo.
Pakistan suffered an enormous defeat towards Bangladesh of their first encounter of the event, whereas India managed to defeat Sri Lanka within the Ladies’s Cricket World Cup opener.
The match is more likely to be affected by rain, with forecasts predicting intermittent showers all through the day. Rain is anticipated earlier than the match begins and should proceed at various intensities through the recreation.
Colombo has already seen heavy rainfall not too long ago, and yesterday’s match between Sri Lanka and Australia was referred to as off because of persistent showers.
Statistics present that Pakistan have by no means overwhelmed India in girls’s ODIs, with the 2 groups going through one another 11 instances, the place India has emerged victorious on all events.
The event is going down from September 30 to November 2 in India and Sri Lanka, and Pakistan will play all their group-stage matches on the R Premadasa Worldwide Cricket Stadium in Colombo.
If Pakistan advance to the semi-final on October 29 and the ultimate on November 2, each matches can even be held in Colombo.
‘No handshakes’
Earlier, the Board of Management for Cricket in India (BCCI) Secretary Devajit Saikia stated that the coverage about Pakistan will stay unchanged of their upcoming conflict within the ICC Ladies’s World Cup 2025.
In an interview with BBC, the BCCI secretary acknowledged that there was no assurance that Indian gamers will shake palms with their Pakistani counterparts throughout their upcoming recreation in Colombo on October 5.
“I cannot forecast anything, but our relationship with that country [Pakistan] is the same; there is no change in the last week,” stated Saikia.
“India will play that match against Pakistan in Colombo, and all cricket protocols will be followed. I can only assure that whatever is in the MCC [Marylebone Cricket Club] regulations of cricket, that will be done.
“Whether or not there can be handshakes, whether or not there can be hugging, I can’t guarantee you of something at this second,” he added.
His comments come in the backdrop of India’s controversial and widely condemned conduct during the recently concluded Asia Cup 2025, where the men’s team refused to shake hands with Pakistan players and made political statements during post-match ceremonies and press conferences.
India also refused to collect the winners’ trophy from Asian Cricket Council (ACC) President Mohsin Naqvi, who also serves as the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).
‘Focus solely on game’
Addressing a pre-match presser on Saturday, Pakistan women’s cricket captain Fatima Sana said that her team is solely focused on the game.
However, Fatima was still asked to share whether she would miss the spirit and camaraderie between the two teams, referencing their off-field interactions after their match at the 2022 edition of the mega event, when the Indian players surrounded then Pakistan captain Bismah Maroof and cooed over her six-month-old daughter.
Fatima, who was a part of the national team then, in response, reiterated Pakistan’s stance of fulfilling the spirit but stressed that their primary objective is to ‘stay focused’ on the game.
“Our primary objective is to play properly. Our relationship with the opposite groups is nice. We are going to attempt to fulfil the spirit of the sport,” said Fatima.
“What occurred earlier than, like with Bismah’s daughter, when everybody mingled and loved collectively, as gamers, all of us like such moments. However the primary factor is to remain centered on what now we have come right here for,” she added.
The Pakistan captain additionally dismissed the notion of odds being towards them as they path India by 11-0 of their head-to-head document within the Ladies’s ODIs and as an alternative pressured that her workforce has the potential to beat any high aspect, stating that the data are supposed to be damaged.
