Pakistan captain cites poor weather for team’s winless campaign, says, ‘Arrange good…’

Pakistan captain Fatima Sana expressed disappointment as rain led to the abandonment of their ICC Women's World Cup 2025 match against Sri Lanka at R. Premadasa Stadium.

New Delhi: Pakistan captain Fatima Sana expressed her frustration following the abandonment of the ICC Women’s World Cup 2025 match against Sri Lanka at the R. Premadasa Stadium on Friday, due to continuous rain.

The match was washed out after just 4.2 overs, leading to the fifth washout in the tournament in Colombo.

Fatima Sana requested ICC to arrange good venues for World Cup

“I think the only thing that didn’t go in our favour was the weather. I think ICC must arrange three good venues for the World Cup because we wait for four years to play in the World Cup,” Fatima said, emphasizing the need for better planning in future editions.

Pakistan and Sri Lanka each earned a point, with Pakistan ending the tournament winless. Despite this, Fatima took a reflective view of her team’s performance, observing, “I think we were very good in the bowling and fielding side, but we are lacking in the batting department. We were good in a couple of games. We gave a close fight to Australia and England, but unfortunately, we were unable to cross the main line.”

Fatima also opened up on leading the team for the first time in World cup

The 23-year-old captain also reflected on leading the team for the first time in a major international tournament.

“I think as the youngest captain of the team, I have learned a lot of learnings from the World Cup. We didn’t play much cricket in the recent past. We need to play much more cricket. We have the T20 World Cup coming up next year. We should be ready for that one,” she added.

Fatima spoke about the challenges of captaincy, mentioning Kane Williamson as a source of inspiration.

“Pressure was always there, but I always watched Kane Williamson. He lost the World Cup very closely, but still, he managed to keep a smile on his face. I am just trying to be calm. When you are captaining a losing side, you need to have that belief in your team. Hopefully, we will do well in our upcoming games.”

Chamari Athapaththu also commented on the tough conditions

Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu also commented on the tough conditions, lauding the mix of youth and experience within her team.

“We have some really talented young players, along with experienced senior players. The seniors always take the time to guide the youngsters, and as captain, I try to support all the girls. I always encourage them to play positive cricket—that‘s my main focus,” she said.

“These are definitely tough conditions, playing under lights and dealing with the rain, which makes things even harder. But we‘ll keep working and see what we can achieve going forward.“

Now that the tournament’s Colombo leg is over, the Women’s World Cup will move to India, where players and spectators will expect matches without any interruption.

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