The Pakistan women’s cricket team is really pushing to have Dubai as their neutral ground for the ICC Women’s ODI World Cup happening later this year. A senior official from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said that the players would really enjoy playing their matches in Dubai, especially since they’ve got quite a bit of experience in the UAE. This is particularly important since that’s where they had to play during their tough times from 2010 to 2020.
Interestingly, while the PCB is set on Dubai because it’s pretty close and familiar, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) seems to be leaning more towards Sri Lanka as a venue since it’s also accessible. PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi made it clear on Saturday that the women’s team won’t be touring India for the upcoming ICC Women’s World Cup in 2025 due to what they call the “fusion formula” that was agreed on before the men’s Champions Trophy in 2025. He stated firmly that under the arrangements made earlier, the women’s team won’t make a trip to India either.
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Given the political tensions between India and Pakistan, both teams have agreed not to play in each other’s countries for any ICC event until at least 2027. Instead, they’ll be playing at neutral venues. Previously, India played its Champions Trophy matches in Dubai, and they ended up winning the whole thing without losing a single match.
As for the Pakistan women’s team, they’ve really shown some great progress under the guidance of head coach Mohammad Waseem. He worked really hard, even though there was an eight-month delay in finalizing his contract. Their determination paid off when they managed to win all five of their games, taking down tougher opponents like the West Indies and Bangladesh to secure their qualification.
Looking back, the Pakistan women’s team had a rocky start in the Women’s ODI World Cup. They didn’t qualify for the first five tournaments, and when they finally made it, they finished at the bottom in 11th place. They struggled for a couple of editions after that too. Their best performance came in the 2009 World Cup held in Australia, where they finished fifth out of eight teams and actually made it to the Super Six, impressively taking down the West Indies.
In the last few editions of the tournament, things didn’t go so well for them, as they ended up in eighth place again, demonstrating that there’s still work to be done. But with their recent improvements, there’s hope that they can do better this time around.
