The 2025 Women’s World Cup Qualifier will get underway in Pakistan from tomorrow (April 9). Two teams will qualify for this year’s World Cup in India.
Over 10 days between April 9 and 19, six teams – Bangladesh, West Indies, Pakistan, Ireland, Scotland, Thailand – will play 15 games across two venues in Lahore, a city without PSL games over that period of time. The top two teams will join hosts India, Australia, England, New Zealand, South Africa, and Sri Lanka at the main event. There will be no final.
How did the six teams qualify?
Ten teams played in the ICC Women’s Championship 2022-25. As hosts, India qualified directly, while five others came based on their ranks in the Women’s Championship.
The other four – Bangladesh, the West Indies, Pakistan, and Ireland, in order of rankings – qualified directly for the Qualifier. The other two, Scotland and Thailand, were the best as per ICC T20I team rankings as on October 28, 2024.
The tournament takes the format of a league, in which each team will play the other five and the top two will qualify for the World Cup. Unlike the men's ODI World Cup qualifiers, there is no final, which is without any context in any case.
Have these teams played in the World Cup before?
None of these teams had featured in the first four editions, though the first ever edition, in 1973, had Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago. The West Indies debuted in 1993, Pakistan in 1997, Ireland in 1993, and Bangladesh as recently as in 2022. Scotland and Thailand are eyeing maiden World Cup appearances.
Who are the favourites to qualify?
With 21 points, Bangladesh finished seventh in the Women’s Championship (they lost out to New Zealand on net run rate) and the West Indies eighth, with 18. Pakistan finished on 17, marginally behind them. Ireland, meanwhile, won three of their 22 decided games to finish with eight points.
Logically, the first three teams are the likeliest to qualify, but expect Ireland, Scotland, and Thailand to pull off upsets from time to time.
Pakistan, Bangladesh, or the West Indies?
As hosts, Pakistan supposedly hold an advantage. As mentioned, they did not miss out on qualification by much in the Championship either. Equally, however, they have not won a single ODI since they beat Bangladesh back in November 2023.
Of course, they have played only six ODIs since then (including an abandoned match), across April and May 2024 – but that included a 0-3 defeat against the West Indies (sans Deandra Dottin) at home. The 0-2 defeat against England was perhaps on expected lines.
Their lack of practice in the format and the defeats in the limited opportunities they've had are also contextualised by Pakistan's poor T20I form. They won five of the 29 T20Is they played in 2024 (including wins against Nepal and UAE), compounding the feeling that things do not look good for them going into the Qualifier. At 23, captain Fatima Sana will have a lot on her plate – though a returning Diana Baig should give Pakistan some hope. If she can provide the breakthroughs, Pakistan may back their spinners to beat one of the other two.
What about Bangladesh? Their record since the start of 2024 (four wins, five defeats) is significantly better than Pakistan’s. The wins may include three ODIs against Ireland, but three of their defeats have been against Australia. Focus will be on their seam duo of Marufa Akter and Fariha Trishna, who will be supported by a strong spin attack which has been phenomenal of late. They took 93 wickets in the Women's Championship, while their average of 28.78 was the fifth-best, and their economy of 4.11 was only behind Australia’s 4.04. Spin is likely to be their key to World Cup qualification.
The West Indies boast of Hayley Matthews, the biggest star of the upcoming tournament. There is no Dottin, but they do have Stafanie Taylor. Qiana Joseph (at the T20 World Cup) and Chinelle Henry (at the WPL) demonstrated their power-hitting prowess, while they have other big names in Shemaine Campbelle, Afy Fletcher, and Karishma Ramharak.
On paper, Bangladesh and the West Indies are the favourites, though Pakistan do have an outside chance.
What about the others?
Ireland did not beat any side which has already qualified for the 2025 World Cup between August 2016 and August 2024, when they defeated Sri Lanka twice. Then, in September last year they beat a second-string England side. They should be able to take hope from that improvement, but it will be an uphill battle for them.
Scotland beat Ireland once, in October 2023, but have not beaten one else from this pool. That is one more win than Thailand have, whose highest point in ODIs came in 2023, when they swept the home series against Zimbabwe 3-0.
However, all three sides have played in the T20 World Cup in this decade, and do know what it takes to to go past this level.
A footnote
If Pakistan qualify, their matches will have to be played outside India as per an agreement earlier this year.
