Harmanpreeet Kaur was a happy captain as India defeated Pakistan by 88 runs in their ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025 match at the R. Premadasa International Cricket Stadium in Colombo on Sunday (5 October).
With this win, India extended their perfect head-to-head record to 12-0 in ODIs.
ICC Women’s World Cup 2025: India Vs Pakistan – Highlights
The match followed familiar patterns, with the expected hostilities notably absent, though the day was not completely devoid of drama.
India maintained their “no-handshake” policy at the toss and after the match, adhering to the precedent set during the men’s Asia Cup in the UAE.
A gaffe during the toss added to the list of amusing incidents, which also included a bizarre run out and a 15-minute delay caused by bugs invading the field.
What Harmanpreeet Kaur Said After India Beat Pakistan In ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025?
“Very happy, very important game for all of us and I’m sure everyone back home is happy as well,” Harmanpreet said at the post-match presentation.
After being sent in to bat, India managed to score 247 all out, thanks to Harleen Deol’s 46 and Richa Ghosh’s quick 35, despite most batters failing to convert their starts into significant scores on a slow pitch.
“It wasn’t an easy pitch to bat on, we wanted to bat longer and see how many runs we can get. It wasn’t an easy pitch. 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,” Harmanpreet said.
In response, Pakistan struggled from an early collapse, with their top order leaving them at 26 for 3 by the eighth over. They were eventually bowled out for 159 in 43 overs.
Opener Sidra Amin fought valiantly with a 106-ball 81, and Natalia Pervaiz contributed 33 runs.
For India, Kranti Goud (3/20) and Deepti Sharma (3/45) each claimed three wickets, while Shree Charani (2/38) also made crucial breakthroughs.
“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,” Harmanpreet said.
When asked about areas of improvement, Harmanpreet said: “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.”
(With inputs from Agencies)
