Pakistan slump to seven-wicket loss against Bangladesh in World Cup opener
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COLOMBO: Rain was predicted, and it was a bit humid too, but the Colombo sun was shining as bright as ever when Pakistan started their Women’s World Cup campaign against Bangladesh at the R. Premadasa Stadium here on Thursday.
After winning the toss, skipper Fatima Sana elected to bat on a pitch where few, if any, deliveries misbehaved throughout the match. However, the perfect batting conditions could not prevent the trademark Pakistan batting collapse to start off a World Cup from taking place.
The last encounter between the two sides was in Lahore in the World Cup Qualifiers, and Pakistan had nearly knocked out the Tigers from the World Cup itself when they won in style with seven wickets in hand.
It was only due to a freak innings of 70 of just 29 by the West Indies skipper Hayley Matthews that got the run-rate permutations to tilt in their favour, and on a plane from Dhaka to the World Cup.
However, in the Sri Lankan capital, the scripts were flipped completely as Bangladesh romped home in style — losing just three wickets in their pursuit of a paltry 129.
Marufa Akter set the momentum from the get-go with a double blow that Fatima’s side never recovered from.
The lanky right-arm pacer found movement early on to get rid of Omaima Sohail and, more importantly, Sidra Amin, eventually being adjudged of player-of-the-match for her exploits.
The veteran batter — fresh off two back-to-back centuries and a crucial 50 against the Proteas, fell for a golden duck as Marufa seamed one back in to make a mess of Sidra’s stumps.
There were just the fifth and sixth ball of the innings, but the writing was already on the wall — the teams had switched positions to do a complete 180 degree of the match situation in their previous encounter.
The Pakistan skipper also chalked that moment as the point where her team lost the plot, and to never recover from that point on.
“We lost batters on the first and second balls of their innings today, we need to take our time and apply ourselves better going forward,” Fatima said at the post-match press conference.
A handful of spectators, including school cricketers, had shown up for the match, with the odd Bangladesh and Pakistan flag visible in the stands.
One of those school cricketers, Bashaira, spoke about how she hoped the match would turn out into a close encounter, cheekily adding that a big fight could also be on the cards.
What she and others who had turned up got instead was a crash course in the Pakistan way of starting a World Cup — showing up like one would at a mandatory stand-up meeting in the middle of a hectic work week — there in body, not in mind.
For all the talk of the camaraderie between the players of the two sides — especially the captains in the lead-up — there was quite a bit of chatter on the field as well, with both sides engaging in banter.
Pakistan had actually managed a mini-recovery by the end of the powerplay — from being 2-2 to 41-2 at the end of 10.
That, however, was short-lived as Muneeba Ali slashed one straight to point off the other Akter in the Bangladesh side — Nahida.
Nahida then took a return off top-scorer Rameen Shamim (22) as Pakistan were left tottering at 47-4. They kept losing wickets with Fatima (22) becoming the seventh batter to depart with the score at exactly 100.
Another Akter, teenage leg-spinner Shorna, then came on to clean up the tail, returning remarkable figures of 3-5 in 3.3 overs, as Pakistan wound up in 38.3 overs.
The mid-innings break saw skipper Fatima and coach Mohammad Waseem have an animated discussion, but whatever they discussed came to nought as Bangladesh chased down the paltry total with ease thanks to an unbeaten 54 by opener Rubya Haider.
Pakistan had reduced Bangladesh to 35-2 but Rubya stitched a 62-run stand with skipper Nigar Sultana (23) and Bangladesh eventually overhauled the target in the 32nd over.
The Women in Green take on India next on Sunday, and with all the happenings of the men’s Asia Cup over the past month, Fatima’s side will have to find a way to focus on the cricket itself if they are going to get their World Cup rolling.
“We need to put this defeat behind us now and bounce back stronger,” said Fatima. “We have a lot of young players in our ranks and the World Cup is their first big tournament and hopefully they will learn from the mistakes.”
SCOREBOARD
PAKISTAN:
Muneeba Ali c Nishita b Nahida 17
Omaima Sohail b Marufa 0
Sidra Amin b Marufa 0
Rameen Shamim c&b Nahida 23
Aliya Riaz c Marufa b Nishita 13
Sidra Nawaz lbw b Rabeya 15
Fatima Sana lbw b Fahima 22
Natalia Pervaiz c Nigar b Shorna 9
Diana Baig not out 16
Nashra Sandhu hit wicket b Shorna 1
Sadia Iqbal c Fargana b Shorna 4
EXTRAS (LB-1, NB-1, W-7) 9
TOTAL (all out, 38.3 overs) 129
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-2 (Omaima), 2-2 (Sidra Amin), 3-44 (Muneeba), 4-47 (Rameen), 5-67 (Sidra Nawaz), 6-91 (Aliya), 7-100 (Fatima), 8-113 (Natalia), 9-115 (Nashra)
BOWLING: Marufa 7-0-31-2 (4w), Nishita 6-0-28-1, Nahida 8-1-19-2 (1w), Fahima 7-1-32-1 (1nb), Rabeya 7-2-13-1 (1w), Shorna 3.3-3-5-3
BANGLADESH:
Fargana Hoque lbw b Diana 2
Rubya Haider not out 54
Sharmin Akhter lbw b Rameen 10
Nigar Sultana c Diana b Fatima 23
Sobhana Mostary not out 24
EXTRAS (B-4, LB-1, W-13) 18
TOTAL (for three wickets, 31.1 overs) 131
DID NOT BAT: Shorna Akter, Fahima Khatun, Nahida Akter, Rabeya Khan, Marufa Akter, Nishita Akter Nishi
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-7 (Fargana), 2-35 (Sharmin), 3-97 (Nigar)
BOWLING: Fatima 8-1-30-1 (3w), Diana 8-3-14-1 (2w), Sadia 6-0-21-0 (1w), Rameen 5-0-25-1 (1w), Nashra 3.1-1-27-0 (1w), Omaima 1-0-9-0
Result: Bangladesh won by seven wickets.
PLAYER-OF-THE-MATCH: Marufa Akter
Published in Dawn, October 3rd, 2025
The author is a member of staff and has a concentration in political economy. They cover issues on the intersection of politics, economics and society and can be contacted on Bluesky: @abyanairwaveskhi.bsky.social
