Women's World Cup: New Zealand won the toss and elected to bowl, changed to playing eleven

New Delhi, October 18 (IANS). New Zealand won the toss and decided to bowl in the 19th match of the 2025 Women’s World Cup. Pakistan’s team went into this match without any changes, while New Zealand made one change. Lee Tahuhu was given a chance in the play-off eleven in place of Brienne Illing. In this match played at R Premadasa Stadium, Pakistan team came out to keep the hope of the next round by registering a win. The New Zealand team is at the fifth position in the standings after winning 1 out of 4 matches, while the Pakistan team is at the last position after losing the first four matches. The temperature in Colombo is 30 degrees Celsius on Saturday. The pitch surface is dry and hard. Batting looks tough here. It is expected that as the game progresses, the spinners can dominate this pitch. Pakistan have hope from Sidra Amin and Muniba Ali in batting. At the same time, in bowling, Nashra Sandhu and Fatima Sana can trouble the New Zealand batsmen. At the other end, New Zealand will have batting pile of Suzie Bates, Book Holiday and Sophie Devine. Pakistan batsmen will have to play carefully in front of Jess Kerr and Amelia Kerr. If Suzy Bates scores 75 runs in this match, she will complete 6 thousand runs. With just 68 runs, Bates will become the second-highest run-scorer in women’s ODI history, surpassing Charlotte Edwards. Pakistan’s eleven plays: Muniba Ali, Umaima Sohail, Sidra Amin, Aliya Riaz, Natalia Parvez, Fatima Sana (captain), Sidra Nawaz (wicketkeeper), Rameen Shamim, Diana Baig, Nashra Sandhu and Sadia Iqbal. New Zealand XI: Suzie Bates, Georgia Plimmer, Amelia Kerr, Sophie Devine (c), Brooke Halliday, Maddy Green, Isabella Gage (wk), Jess Kerr, Rosemary Mair, Lee Tahuhu, Eden Carson. –IANS RSG/DSC