Pakistan captain Fatima Sana took matters into her own hands during the Women’s World Cup 2025 match against India at Colombo’s R. Premadasa Stadium on October 5, when a sudden swarm of flies disrupted play. The incident occurred after the 34th over, causing discomfort to players from both sides.
Substitute fielder Eymaan Fatima initially tried to tackle the problem by spraying insect repellent on a teammate’s cap, but the insects persisted. Fatima Sana then stepped in, spraying around her teammates in an effort to ward off the bugs.
India vs Pakistan, Women’s World Cup Updates
Despite these efforts, the infestation continued, forcing the umpires to intervene. Players were asked to leave the field while ground staff fumigated the entire stadium, resulting in a 15-minute delay. Pest control personnel sprayed the field to make conditions suitable for play to resume, ensuring the game could continue safely.
Fatima Sana bowls an impressive spell
Fatima Sana was one of the standout bowlers for Pakistan in the game, finishing with impressive figures of 10-2-38-2 and playing a key role in restricting India to 247 in 50 overs.
Fatima, who took over as Pakistan captain last year from Nida Dar, opened her bowling account by trapping Smriti Mandhana LBW with a perfectly angled nip-backer that forced the batter to play around her pad.
Mandhana opted for a review, but it proved futile as ball-tracking confirmed the ball would have hit leg-stump. Sana continued her excellent spell by dismissing Sneh Rana, who mistimed a drive to Aliya Riaz at long-on.
However, Fatima struggled with the bat, scoring only two runs off 12 balls. She came in after Natalia Perveiz fell to Kranti Goud, at a stage when Pakistan needed to accelerate with the required run rate hovering around 7.5.
Fatima attempted to attack Deepti Sharma, trying to clear the boundary down the ground, but ended up holed out to Smriti Mandhana at long-on.
– Ends