LAHORE: The women’s national selection committee on Monday announced a 15-member Pakistan squad for the ICC Women’s World Cup 2025, to be held from Sept 30 to Nov 2 under a hybrid model.

Led by Fatima Sana, the side will play all its group-stage matches — and, if qualified, the semi-final and final — at the R. Premadasa International Cricket Stadium in Colombo. Though the tournament is officially being staged in India, Pakistan’s fixtures were shifted to Sri Lanka after both boards refused to tour each other’s country.

The same squad will also feature in the three-match One-day International series against South Africa at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium from Sept 16 to 22, with the tourists arriving on Sept 12.

Uncapped batter Eyman Fatima, who recently made her T20I debut against Ireland, earned a call-up to the ODI squad. Fatima Sana,

who represented Pakistan in the previous edition of the World Cup, will lead the team in the global event for the first time, having earlier captained the successful qualifying campaign in Lahore this year.

Six players are set to make their maiden ODI World Cup appearance; Natalia Parvaiz, Rameen Shamim, Sadaf Shamas, Sadia Iqbal, Shawaal Zulfiqar and Syeda Aroob Shah. Among them, Aroob (21), Shawaal (20) and Eyman (20) were part of Pakistan’s squad at the inaugural ICC Women’s U19 T20 World Cup in South Africa in 2023.

Two changes have been made from the side that featured in the World Cup Qualifier, with Eyman and Sadaf replacing Gull Feroza and Najiha Alvi. Gull and Najiha join Tuba Hassan, Umm-e-Hani and Waheeda Akhtar as non-travelling reserves.

The PCB said the 15 selected players and five reserves will undergo a 14-day pre-series training camp from Aug 29 under head coach Mohammad Wasim, featuring practice sessions and 50-over warm-up matches.

Squad: Fatima Sana (captain), Muneeba Ali Siddiqui (vice-captain), Aliya Riaz, Diana Baig, Eyman Fatima, Nashra Sundhu, Natalia Parvaiz, Omaima Sohail, Rameen Shamim, Sadaf Shamas, Sadia Iqbal, Shawaal Zulfiqar, Sidra Amin, Sidra Nawaz (wicket-keeper) and Syeda Aroob Shah.

Non-travelling reserves: Gull Feroza, Najiha Alvi, Tuba Hassan, Umm-e-Hani and Waheeda Akhtar.

Pakistan vs South Africa series (all ODIs at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore):

Sept 16: First ODI

Sept 19: Second ODI

Sept 22: Third ODI

Pakistan’s World Cup fixtures:

Oct 2: vs Bangladesh

Oct 5: vs India

Oct 8: vs Australia

Oct 15: vs England

Oct 18: vs New Zealand

Oct 21: vs South Africa

Oct 24: vs Sri Lanka

(Semi-final: Oct 29, Final: Nov 2)

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2025