Fatima Sana Calls for Top-Order Batting Improvement Following India Setback in ICC Women’s World Cup 2025

Pakistan captain Fatima Sana has said that the top-order batting of the team needs to step up in the upcoming matches. She reflected on the poor performance of Pakistan after getting defeated by India in the second straight game at the ICC Women’s World Cup 2025. The green shirts lost the match by a big margin of 88 runs, courtesy of some fine bowling by India in the second innings.

While speaking at the post-match press conference, Fatima Sana acknowledged that Pakistan gave away too many runs in the Powerplay. Due to this, they allowed India to build a base at the start of the innings. She also said that the bowling in the death overs was not up to the mark, which is why India got extra runs at the end of the innings.

“I think at the start, in the Powerplay, we gave away too many runs and lost a few extra. In the death overs as well, we conceded additional runs. When I bowl, it feels like it’s seaming, but I think Danny was a little confused about the seam or swing, so I kept guiding her. I think she will be fine in the next match,” said Fatima Sana at the post-match press conference.

The captain of the green shirts further said that restricting India under 200 was their major target, but they weren’t able to do that due to leaking free runs throughout the innings.

“If we had restricted them under 200, it would have been a good total for us, but we still lost a few runs here and there,” said Fatima Sana.

Talking about the batting performance, Fatima Sana insisted that the top-order batters in the team need to step up in the upcoming matches. She reflected her optimism in this case, saying that the team combination has five specialist batters upfront.

“I still believe today’s batting lineup is strong because the top five are pure batters. They need to step up. A couple of games haven’t gone the way we wanted, but there’s still much to play in the tournament. We need to focus on building long partnerships, staying at the crease, assessing the conditions, and adapting accordingly,” said Fatima Sana.

Meanwhile, she also heaped praise on the performance of Sidra Amin in the match against India. She highlighted that Sidra is the ace batter of Pakistan who works very hard to maintain her performance.

“Sidra is a main player in our squad and works very hard. With Allah’s help, hopefully, she will perform well in the upcoming matches too,” said Fatima Sana.

Pakistan Women will now play their third match against Australia Women on October 8 at Colombo. The green shirts are optimistic that they can make a comeback in this match by correcting the mistakes that happened in previous games.