“We are here to play cricket,” says Harmanpreet Kaur, in response to India-Pakistan tensions

Cautious optimism was the order of the day at the Captains’ Day event that was held simultaneously in Bengaluru and Colombo on Friday.

All eight skippers participating in the 13th edition of the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025 spoke with immense passion while expressing their eagerness and confidence with just four days to go before the tournament starts.

Conversations about the tournament aside, questions over the simmering tensions between India and Pakistan emerged almost immediately.

‘Focused on cricket’

Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur did not mince words when quizzed about how her team would approach to the Pakistan fixture in keeping the ongoing geo-political situation with the neighboring country.

“We can only control the things we have in our hand,” she responded.

And when asked about the gestures being make by Pakistani players on field, Harmanpreet was assertive in her response.

“We don’t even discuss those things in our dressing room. We are here to play cricket. We will not entertain anything else on the field. We are focused on our cricket only.”

A unique format saw the captains all together on one forum even though they were in different countries. Alyssa Healy (Australia), Nat Sciver-Brunt (England), Sophie Devine (New Zealand), and Harmanpreet Kaur (India) attended the event in Bengaluru while Nigar Sultana (Bangladesh), Fatima Sana (Pakistan), Laura Wolvaardt (South Africa), and Chamari Athapaththu (Sri Lanka) were part of the event in Colombo.

Competitive field

Virtually every captain spoke of just how level the playing field is for the World Cup.

“For the first time, we’re going to see every team on equal footing. I don’t want to single a team out, all the other 7 teams are red hot.” said Australian skipper Alyssa Healy, while adding that they would need to beat every team to win the World Cup.

Laura Wolvaardt, the South African captain echoed similar sentiments: “No single team is set up to win it.”

Regardless of the competition, it was evident that no team is going to give away an inch to the opposition.

“We’re here to win and look forward to being at our best,” said New Zealand’s Sophie Devine.

While some of the more established outfits like India, Australia, England and New Zealand might receive more attention, for teams like Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh, this World Cup comes as a huge platform. 

“This is a great opportunity for all of us. We are aware of our responsibility to promote cricket back home, where interest in women’s cricket is growing. We believe it is time to give back to our supporters through our performances,” said Bangladesh’s Nigar Sultana.

For Pakistan’s Fatima Sana, the conditions are going to be the key.

“We have a significant advantage playing here [in Colombo] and executing our skills because we know we will be playing all our matches at the same venue and under the same conditions. This familiarity will work in our favor. Yes, definitely, our main goal is to finish in the top four,” she said.

‘Enjoying the moment’

Playing in front of the home crowd always presents another layer of complexity, and with India having faltered in two ICC finals previously, The Bridge asked Harmanpreet Kaur was asked about the squad's mental toughness. 

“Its all about enjoying the moment and not taking the pressure. We are only talking about enjoying this moment, we have learnt a lot from our mistakes and hopefully we will be on the other side,” she said, while exuding confidence.

Sri Lanka’s Chamari Athapaththu indicated a somewhat similar approach.

“We want to enjoy the moment, taking it one game at a time. We do not want to put too much pressure on ourselves but rather play our natural game freely. That is our intention.”

The ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup an eight-team tournament being played from 30 Sept to 2 Nov across five venues - Guwahati, Indore, Navi Mumbai, Visakhapatnam and Colombo

The tournament returns to the sub-continent after 2013, when India hosted the tournament. Also, this is the first women’s ICC global event on the sub-continent since India hosted the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in 2016 along with the Men’s T20 World Cup.

This women’s World Cup carries a record total prize money of 13.88 million US Dollars, more than that of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023, with the winner’s purse worth 4.48 million dollars.

Another noteworthy fact is that this tournament is being run by an all-female panel of match officials, a big shift given that all senior global women’s events since 2023 have previously had an all-female Match Official panel.