Former Indian women's cricketer Reema Malhotra believes Pakistan's team is nowhere close to theirs as their clash in the Women's World Cup 2025 looms. Malhotra cheekily stated that Pakistan must cement a conspiracy if they are to beat India in this World Cup edition.
India and Pakistan will clash against one another in Colombo on October, 5, Sunday. With the Indian men's team reigning supreme against Pakistan thrice in the recent Asia Cup 2025 edition, fans would expect the Women in Blue to pull off the same. As far as ODI cricket goes, Indian women's team has beaten its Pakistani counterparts on all 11 occasions.
Speaking on Star Sports, Malhotra, 44, stated:
"11 mein se 11 match bharat ne jeete hain. 5 tareekh ko aap bolenge 12 mein se 12 match bhi bharat ne jeete hain. Maine ek kahaawat bataayi thi na, 'kyun pade ho chakkar mein, koi nahin hai takkar mein?' Pakistan takkar mein nahin ho sakta. Jis tarah ki bhartiya team hai. Jis tarah ka unka pradarshan hai, playing XI hai. Agar Pakistan team ko dekhein 1 ya 2 match-winner nazar aayenge. Bharatiya team ko dekhenge toh top 5 wicket girne ke baad bhi, jis tareeke se match jeeta hai, number of match-winners nazar aate hain. Mujhe lagta hai ki Pakistan ko agar bharat ko haraana hai toh saajish rachni padegi. Bharat hone nahin degi."
(India have won 11 out of 11 matches. On 5th you will say, India have won all 12. Pakistan cannot give India a run for their money, the way Indian team's performance and their playing XI is. If you see Pakistan's team, there are only 1 or 2 match-winners. If you see India, they won even after 5 wickets of theirs fell. So, there are plenty of match-winners. If India are to defeat Pakistan, they have to do a conspiracy. India won't let it happen.)
India beat Sri Lanka convincingly to open their World Cup campaign
Meanwhile, India, led by Harmanpreet Kaur brushed aside Sri Lanka convincingly by 59 runs in a rain-marred tournament-opener in Guwahati. Although the hosts had slid to 124/6 at one stage, Amanjot Kaur and Deepti Sharma struck half-centuries and shared a partnership of 103, lifting India to 269/8 in 47 overs.
With the ball, Deepti Sharma shared with three scalps, while Sneh Rana and Shree Charani took two wickets each to bowl Sri Lanka out for 211.
