India’s women’s cricket team delivered a spectacular performance, securing a dominant 88-run victory over arch-rivals Pakistan in the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025. The match, held at the R. Premadasa International Cricket Stadium in Colombo on Sunday, further cemented India’s remarkable unbeaten streak against Pakistan, now standing at an impressive 12-0 in One Day Internationals, all under the astute leadership of Captain Harmanpreet Kaur.
While the game largely unfolded as expected, a notable absence was the traditional exchange of handshakes between the teams at both the toss and after the match. This decision follows a precedent set during the men’s Asia Cup in the UAE. The contest itself wasn’t without its quirks, featuring a slight toss mishap, an unusual run-out dismissal, and even a 15-minute pause due to unexpected insect activity on the field.
Following the significant win, Harmanpreet Kaur shared her elation in the post-match presentation, stating, “Very happy, very important game for all of us, and I’m sure everyone back home is happy as well.”
Having been sent in to bat first, India posted a respectable total of 247 runs. Harleen Deol played a crucial knock of 46, while Richa Ghosh chipped in with a brisk 35. Many other batters found it challenging to convert their starts into big scores on the slow pitch. Reflecting on the conditions, Harmanpreet noted, “It wasn’t an easy pitch to bat on, we wanted to bat longer and see how many runs we can get. It’s been raining, and there was a hold on the pitch. We wanted to keep wickets in hand. The key was keeping wickets, Richa batted really well and gave us that crucial 30 runs.”
Pakistan’s chase got off to a rocky start, with three early wickets falling quickly, leaving them at 26 for 3 by the eighth over. Despite a valiant effort from Sidra Amin, who scored a fighting 81 runs off 106 balls, and Natalia Pervaiz’s contribution of 33, Pakistan was eventually bowled out for 159 in 43 overs.
India’s bowlers were in formidable form. Kranti Goud was outstanding, picking up 3 wickets for just 20 runs, while Deepti Sharma also impressed with 3 wickets for 45 runs. Shree Charani added to the attack with 2 wickets for 38. Harmanpreet praised her team’s bowling performance: “Our bowling was great. Kranti bowled really well, she was outstanding and Renuka helped her in getting the breakthroughs. We created so many chances, unfortunately, we dropped it, but in the end when you win you are happy.”
Looking ahead, Harmanpreet acknowledged areas for growth: “There are a lot of areas but we are happy we won, just want to go with the momentum. Now we go back to India, we know how the pitches play there, we will look at the combinations and what team we need to play.”