Watch: Pakistan captain shamelessly politicizes Women’s World Cup with “Azad Kashmir” remark amid Asia Cup row

A fresh controversy has been triggered by the former Pakistan Women's National Cricket Team captain Sana Mir during the ICC Women's World Cup 2025.

Sana Mir dropped a political bomb while commentating during the ICC Women's World Cup 2025 match between Pakistan Women's National Cricket Team and Bangladesh Women's National Cricket Team on Thursday, October 2.

Pakistan captain drops “Azad Kashmir” remark during Women’s World Cup clash

In the third match of the ICC Women's World Cup 2025, Pakistan and Bangladesh are going head-to-head at the R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo.

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After winning the toss and opting to bat first, the Pakistan Women's team displayed a horrible performance and they kept losing wickets at regular intervals, eventually getting bundled out for 129 in 38.3 overs.

Due to the poor batting performance of her team, bowler Natalia Pervaiz was forced to arrive in the middle very early, and that was when the biggest controversy of the Women's World Cup erupted.

While talking about Natalia Pervaiz on-air, Sana Mir dropped a politically loaded remark, saying that the bowler comes from "Azad Kashmir". She said:

"In context is captaining a very young side, yes, they have won the qualifiers but a lot of these players are new. Natalia, who comes from Kashmir, Azad Kashmir, plays in Lahore a lot of cricket. She has to come to Lahore to play most of her cricket there."

This triggered a massive controversy, and Sana Mir received brutal bashing from the Indians for referring to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) as Azad Kashmir.

Notably, Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) refers to the portions of the former princely state Jammu & Kashmir that came under Pakistan’s control following the first Indo-Pakistan war in 1947-48. These lands remain illegally occupied, and Indian policy rejects the implication that Pok, which is called Azad Kashmir for political agenda, is “free” or genuinely autonomous since Pakistan controls its defence, foreign affairs, etc. India considers terminology such as “Azad Kashmir” misleading in suggesting self-rule.

Despite knowing the political implications and controversy surrounding India and Pakistan over the Asia Cup 2025, Sana Mir dropping such a pathetic remark on-air raises a question whether it was an intentional move by the former skipper to trigger further controversy. A commentator of an ICC event should be more responsible and realise what impact their words have on people, and Sana Mir should be condemned for her remark.

Watch: Pakistan captain shamelessly politicizes Women’s World Cup with “Azad Kashmir” comment

Politics in cricket 🇵🇰🚨

A Pakistani commentator calls a player "from Azad Kashmir" on air during the ICC Womens World Cup 2025 match.

Natalia Pervaiz - Player
Sana Mir - Commentator

Video 📷 #INDvsWI #Pakistan #Bangladesh pic.twitter.com/TOBn1Ce8io

— Globally Pop (@GloballyPop) October 2, 2025

Also Read: Rashid Khan slams media for calling Afghanistan the second-best Asian team

Nashra Sandhu gets out hit-wicket

During the match between Pakistan and Bangladesh, a classic Pakistani moment was produced by Nashra Sandhu, who got out hit-wicket.

She became the first Pakistani woman and only the second player overall to suffer this mode of dismissal in Women’s World Cup history after Lynette Smith. Also, the wicket places her alongside Pakistan’s male cricketers Misbah-ul-Haq and Imam-ul-Haq, both of whom experienced hit-wicket dismissals in ODI World Cups.

Nashra Sandhu will not want to watch that again 😵‍💫pic.twitter.com/svunaHIUv0

— Cricbuzz (@cricbuzz) October 2, 2025

Meanwhile, speaking earlier at the toss, the Pakistan Women's skipper Fatima Sana stated that they can beat any team in the world. She said:

"We will bat first. The pitch looks good for batting, hopefully we will play good cricket. Every team is tough to beat in World Cup. If we play good cricket we can beat any team. Three new faces for us.

Playing XIs of both teams:

Bangladesh Women (Playing XI): Fargana Hoque, Rubya Haider, Sharmin Akhter, Nigar Sultana(w/c), Sobhana Mostary, Shorna Akter, Fahima Khatun, Nahida Akter, Rabeya Khan, Marufa Akter, Nishita Akter Nishi

Pakistan Women (Playing XI): Muneeba Ali, Omaima Sohail, Sidra Amin, Aliya Riaz, Sidra Nawaz(w), Natalia Pervaiz, Fatima Sana(c), Rameen Shamim, Nashra Sandhu, Diana Baig, Sadia Iqbal