India captain Harmanpreet Kaur expressed her delight after India secured their second consecutive win at the 2025 Women’s ODI World Cup, defeating Pakistan by 88 runs in Colombo. Calling it an “important game for all of us,” she admitted that the pitch posed significant batting challenges throughout the innings.
India Overcomes Early Struggles
Like in their opening match against Sri Lanka, India’s lower-order batters once again rescued the side from a tricky position. At one stage, India were struggling at 203 for 7, but Richa Ghosh’s unbeaten 35 off 20 balls provided the late surge they needed, lifting the total to 247 runs.
“𝑻𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒕, 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔𝒏’𝒕 𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒚 𝒑𝒊𝒕𝒄𝒉 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒂𝒕,” 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒕 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅. “𝑾𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒘𝒐 𝒅𝒂𝒚𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒃𝒊𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒊𝒕𝒄𝒉. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒌𝒆𝒚 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒌𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒘𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒕𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒆𝒙𝒆𝒄𝒖𝒕𝒆.”
The innings recovery proved vital, as India’s bowlers — particularly the spinners — dominated the second half of the match, successfully defending the total against Pakistan.
Kranti Goud Shines with the New Ball
India’s pace sensation Kranti Goud, aged 22, was once again the star performer. Her fiery spell of 3 for 20, including the key wickets of Sadaf Shamas and Aliya Riyaz, dismantled Pakistan’s top order early on.
“𝑲𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒊 𝒃𝒐𝒘𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍,” 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒕 𝒑𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒅. “𝑹𝒆𝒏𝒖𝒌𝒂 [𝑺𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒉] 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒌𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒖𝒔.”
It was a fitting moment for Goud, who made her international debut at the same venue earlier this year and has since become a key part of India’s bowling attack.
Fielding Concerns Despite Victory
Despite the convincing win, India’s fielding was far from perfect. The team dropped four catches, including three off Pakistan’s top scorer, Sidra Amin, which highlighted areas needing improvement.
“𝑾𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒕 𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒍𝒅,” 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒕 𝒂𝒅𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒅. “𝑾𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒔𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒘𝒆 𝒖𝒏𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒖𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒅𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒅, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒅, 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒊𝒏, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒚.”
Looking Ahead
India will now head to Visakhapatnam, where they face South Africa on October 9 and Australia on October 12. Harmanpreet emphasized the importance of maintaining momentum while focusing on improvement.
“𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒂 𝒍𝒐𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝒐𝒏, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝑰’𝒎 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒈𝒂𝒎𝒆,” 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅. “𝑾𝒆 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒐 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒖𝒎 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒃𝒚 𝒅𝒂𝒚.”
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