The Pakistan Women and India Women clash of October 5, 2025, in Colombo of the ongoing Women’s World Cup 2025 is one of the most anticipated ones. Ahead of the match, former India Women captain Anjum Chopra gives her insight on the team’s execution, changes needed in the team, Deepti Sharma’s role in the playing XI, and the no-handshake notion.
In an exclusive interview with Firstpost, Anjum highlighted the importance of India Women’s bowler Deepti Sharma. After India’s win in the opening match of the World Cup against Sri Lanka, she called the spinner the biggest match winner of the team.
“Deepti, I felt, was very much instrumental (to India’s win vs Sri Lanka in the World Cup opener), along with others of course. I have always maintained that she is the biggest match winner in the Indian team,” she said.
Anjum feels that while the expectations from Deepti are high, the recognition given to her is not. She credited her growth and improvement to playing the role of an all-rounder for her team.
She added, “Just look at the dynamism that she (now) brings as a cricketer and that too with a docile personality, not one that is in your face. That is why she doesn’t get enough credit. Anybody else would have already become a leader in this group.”
The former cricketer talks about the players’ preparation ahead of the October 5 clash. Anjum believes a cricketer should start from scratch and work on improvements despite looking back at previous match records.
“No matter what you have done in previous matches, you always start from zero in every innings – that is something that is drilled into our systems from a very young age. Making a mistake is fine, to err is human,” she added.
Smriti Mandhana, who was coming off a strong performance from the three-match ODI series against Australia, failed to score many in the opening match against Sri Lanka. The high-scorer with 300 runs in three innings against Australia managed to get only 8 runs for the team.
Speaking on Mandhana, Anjum reflected on the changes and felt that she will make her comeback soon in the tournament.
“I myself had said that ‘this is Smriti 2.0’. But then suddenly you go back to what was happening earlier. She (Smriti) has worked very hard and I am sure she will come out of this, but you don’t want to have those tension-filled evenings or nights when you are by yourself and you have the thought – ‘I wish I had started well, (then) I would have been in a much better space,” she mentioned.
Anjum felt that while the matchup between India and Pakistan has high stakes, the opposition cannot be taken lightly even if the statistics reflect in their favor. While India is leading with a win in comparison to Pakistan, who lost their first match against Bangladesh, the result remains unpredictable. In wider context, India has won all their 11 ODIs against Pakistan so far.
“The numbers are in India’s favour, but since it’s a World Cup contest, I would never take (the opposition) lightly. Also, a contest against Pakistan, I would never take lightly.” she noted.
Pakistan Women recently won the third and final ODI match against South Africa by six wickets, played at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on September 22, 2025. South Africa, however, won the series by 2-1.
The former cricketer believes the escalated tension between India and Pakistan has dragged sports in between. According to her, these things should stay outside sports, and the passion should remain between the teams.
“I don’t know why the situation has become what it has become, why it has escalated to this level. I am not aware of any directive being issued. I have not read it, and I have not been told about it. I feel that sport is supposed to stay clear of anything which is outside the boundaries of the stadium,” she mentioned.
(Quotes sourced from Firstpost)
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