The upcoming Women’s ODI World Cup 2025 will feature a match between India and Pakistan on Sunday in Colombo. This follows recent events at the Asia Cup 2025, where three India-Pakistan matches generated significant attention.The Indian men’s cricket team declined handshakes with Pakistani players and refused to accept the trophy from Asian Cricket Council chief Mohsin Naqvi after winning the final.
Indian men’s team captain Suryakumar Yadav set this precedent, and now attention turns to how Indian women’s team captain Harmanpreet Kaur will handle the situation.BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia addressed questions about whether the Indian women’s team would follow the men’s team’s approach.
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“I cannot forecast anything, but our relationship with that particular hostile country is the same; there is no change in the last week,” Saikia told BBC Stumped.”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 regulations of cricket, that will be done. Whether there will be handshakes, whether there will be hugging, I cannot assure you of anything at this moment.”In recent Women’s World Cup action, Bangladesh defeated Pakistan by seven wickets with 18.5 overs remaining in Colombo. Bangladesh successfully chased Pakistan’s total of 129.Rubya Haider, making her WODI debut, scored an unbeaten half-century to guide Bangladesh to victory. The Bangladesh bowling attack, led by Marufa Akter, set the tone with early wickets.”We are thrilled to get a win under our belt in our first outing,” said Marufa. “There was lot of support from my team-mates. Special credit to our team analyst who fed me with some valuable input leading into the game. We showed lot of energy on the field and we take lot of positives from this game.”Bangladesh’s spin bowlers dominated the match. Nahida Akter claimed two quick wickets, reducing Pakistan to 47-4 in 14 overs. Shorna Akter then took three wickets for just five runs in 3.3 overs.Rubya Haider’s batting performance featured precise cut shots between point and cover. She maintained control throughout the innings without needing to play aerial shots.Pakistan’s batting performance was underwhelming, with only two players scoring more than 20 runs. They face the challenge of adapting to Colombo’s slow pitch conditions for their upcoming matches.Diana Baig, who represents Pakistan in both cricket and football, showed promise with her bowling. However, the low target meant her efforts couldn’t change the match outcome.”We just lost too many wickets early on and never recovered,” Pakistan captain Fatima Sana said. “We need to put this defeat behind us now and bounce back stronger. We have a lot of young players in our ranks and the World Cup is their first big tournament and hopefully they will learn from the mistakes.”India began their World Cup campaign successfully with a victory against Sri Lanka in their opening match.