Pakistan captain Fatima Sana is aware that her team will start as underwhelming favorites against India in their Women`s World Cup 2025 match. India have already got off to a fantastic start in their campaign, while Pakistan lost to Bangladesh in their opener.
However, Sana is confident about her team having proper plans against the Indian players like Smrit Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur. She claimed that Pakistan have been observing how India have been playing of late and feels the assistance in the pitch will certainly give them a fighting chance.
Here`s what Fatima Sana was quoted as saying in the pre-match press conference:
“Absolutely. When we plan, we look at everything – the way they played in Australia, where the pitches were flat, and now the pitches here are different. So scenarios keep changing, but we analyse all of them and plan accordingly. We`ll try to put our best players against them. They are good players, no doubt, but we will also try to make the best plans against them.”
India have won all 11 of the ODIs that they have played against Pakistan and have lost just 3 out of the 27 international games played between the two sides. However, Fatima Sana believes the head-to-head record doesn`t matter once the two teams step onto the field. She believes if Pakistan play their best game, they can give a tough fight to the Indians. On this, she stated:
“Firstly, whatever records exist between India and Pakistan are meant to be broken. It`s not that Pakistan will never win against them. We believe in playing good cricket, no matter who the opponent is. So we won`t think about past history; we`ll focus only on the day we play. And yes, when you play against big teams, you make proper plans for each player. We`ll try our best to execute those plans well and prepare effectively for every opponent.”
Tensions surrounding the India-Pakistan encounter are high especially after the Indian men`s team refused to shake hands with the Pakistan team during the Asia Cup. Only time will tell if the tensions will flare up and give rise to on-field spats.