Follow UsIt is going to be yet another India-Pakistan clash on the cricketing field and this time around it is the women’s team that are going to be up against each other. The possibility of ‘no handshake’, much like what happened in the Men’s Asia Cup 2025, has not yet been ruled out for this Women’s World Cup 2025 clash.
However, on the eve of the game, both Pakistan captain Fatima Sana and India’s bowling coach Aavishkar Salvi were focused on cricket with them requesting the journalists to base their questions on cricket, in the pre-match press conference in Colombo on October 4.
The Pakistan skipper mentioned that she and her team would play by the spirit of cricket. "We have great relationships with all other teams, and we try to keep good relations with everyone. We'll try to do everything within the spirit of the game,” said Sana.
But while saying that, she also mentioned how in the last World Cup edition in New Zealand in 2022, all Indian players were seen mingling and playing with then Pakistan captain Bismah Mahroof’s six-month-old daughter.
"Those pictures in the past with everyone mingling with each other around Bismah's daughter – those scenes look good and everyone enjoys seeing that. But, of course, our focus has to be on what we're here for – to play,” she said.
Prioritising cricket over everything else, Sana reiterated, "We're like a family of 20–22 people here. We don't really worry about what's going on outside our bubble. The World Cup is something every player waits for, so we just want to focus on the thing we've come here for."
While the Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur gave the press conference, India representative, bowling coach Salvi also focussed on the importance of the game and the number of points associated with it.
"The area of focus is cricket. We want our girls to bring that 'A' game to the day. We want them to take it just as a game, because the World Cup is a long campaign. It's a long campaign – there will be a lot of games coming up,” he said.
While India won their first game against Sri Lanka quite convincingly, Pakistan had a heavy defeat against Bangladesh.