Meg Lanning believes India must start strong in the 2025 Womenโs ODI World Cup to handle home pressure. She highlights the spin battle vs Sri Lanka and stresses the need for momentum, noting that scrappy wins are key to lifting the trophy in long tournaments.
With the Womenโs ODI World Cup 2025 set to begin, anticipation is building as the hosts prepare to open their campaign against Sri Lanka on September 30. As excitement builds, so does the pressure, which is something that comes with hosting a global tournament. For India, a team that has reached the finals twice but is yet to lift the trophy, the challenge will be to convert expectations into performances right from the start.
This is the fourth time India is hosting the Womenโs World Cup, following previous editions in 1978, 1997, and 2013. A strong start, particularly in front of a home crowd, could help ease the nerves and provide early momentum in what promises to be a tightly contested competition.ย Speaking on The ICC Review, former Australia captain Meg Lanning underlined the significance of the opening fixture and shared her experience of navigating pressure in major tournaments.
โI think it’s a crucial game for them because it can almost release the pressure a little bit. If they can play a good solid game up front, get the win on the board, then I think that might just calm them down a little bit. Because yeah, home World Cups, there’ll be obviously a lot of pressure and expectation on them to do well. So if they’re able to set up their tournament really nicely by putting in a solid performance up front, then it makes it easier towards the back end,โ Lanning said.
Building momentum is important, believes Lanning
One of the key battles in the opener will be between the spin units of both teams. India boasts a versatile spin attack featuring Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Radha Yadav, and newcomer Sree Charani. Sri Lanka counters with experienced campaigner Inoka Ranaweera, captain Chamari Athapaththu, and promising all-rounders Kaveesha Dilhari and Dewmi Vihanga.
โBoth sides have got some very skillful bowlers in their spin attacks and that could play a really crucial role, not only in the first game but also throughout the tournament. They play against each other a lot, which sort of adds to the contest. But yeah, there’s some really skillful players there,โ the former international said.
Lanning also spoke on the importance of building momentum. She mentioned that in such long tournaments, there will be tough times and each team will have to scrape through that to pick up the win. She noted the importance of such scrappy wins at the back end of the tournament.ย
โI think in every World Cup that I’ve played there was a game or two where we had to scrape our way through and get the win. It certainly wasn’t pretty but if you can actually just get those wins on board and then sort of try and get yourself together for the back end of the tournament, then that’s how you win 50-over World Cups,โ Lanning said.