The start of the India vs Pakistan tie at the Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025 was marked by a goof up during the toss, thanks to the presenter and the match referee. Pakistan captain Fatima Sana’s call for ‘tails’ was wrongly called heads by both Mel Jones and official Shandre Fritz. Pakistan ended up winning the toss and opted to bowl first against INDW at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.
Blunder at toss before INDW vs PAKW
India captain Harmanpreet Kaur was supposed to spin the coin while her Pakistan counterpart was to make the call. As Kaur tossed the coin up in the air, Sana called ‘tails’. What happened next was baffling. Mel Jones and the match referee Fritz said that ‘heads’ was the call and indeed it was heads when the coin fell to the ground. While neither Fatima or Harmanpreet objected at that time, the Pakistan captain said that she will field first.
The blunder might have just given Pakistan Women an advantage in the game as India could have opted to bowl first if the toss was called right. It remains to be seen if the blunder at the toss can affect the course of the game for India Women.
Talking about the contest, Pakistan will be under the pressure to get a win against India, as they have lost on all 11 occasions that the two sides have met before in the 50-over format. India have made one change to their XI while Pakistan have made a couple of them.
INDW vs PAKW Playing XIs
Pakistan Women: Muneeba Ali, Sadaf Shamas, Sidra Amin, Rameen Shamim, Aliya Riaz, Sidra Nawaz(w), Fatima Sana(c), Natalia Pervaiz, Diana Baig, Nashra Sandhu, Sadia Iqbal
India Women: Pratika Rawal, Smriti Mandhana, Harleen Deol, Harmanpreet Kaur(c), Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh(w), Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Renuka Singh Thakur, Kranti Gaud, Shree Charani
