Advertisement - ISLAMABAD, Apr 2 (APP):The strength in the depth of women’s cricket will be on full display at the upcoming ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025 Qualifier in Pakistan. ICC Manager Women’s Cricket and former India international cricketer, Snehal Pradhan, is looking forward to the event in Pakistan where six teams will compete for two spots at the Women’s Cricket World Cup in India later this year. Hosts Pakistan will be joined by ICC Full Members Bangladesh, Ireland and West Indies along with Associate Members Thailand and Scotland, for the Qualifier, and Pradhan believes that with the standard rising across the board, predicting who will come through qualifying is almost impossible, said a press release. She said, “Cricket with context, huge outcomes on the line, great opportunities so it’s a brilliant tournament, everyone is excited about it. We’ve got four full members, two associate members, so this is an extremely competitive pack of six teams. The growth of the game has been evident across the board in recent years, with New Zealand and South Africa playing out the last ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Final, while Nigeria and USA produced some stellar performances at the ICC U19 Women’s T20 World Cup earlier this year. “We had a group of 16 teams who were eligible for an eight-team event. The volume of matches that we have seen in the calendar because of the structure that the ICC Women’s Championship has meant that the standard of cricket has gone up. The result of this growth is a move towards expansion, both at T20 level, and also in ODIs, with the next World Cup set to be contested by 10 teams. Former Pakistan captain Sana Mir has welcomed that decision, and the approach taken by the ICC to grow the game. Looking forward to the event on home soil, she said, “One of the great things about the ICC Women’s Championship, which I benefited from hugely in my career, is that it has been expanded to 10 teams. I feel that plays a huge role, especially for countries like Bangladesh and Ireland now that they have been part of that. “It is a very exciting time in women’s cricket and if we keep doing things right, there will be more than four or five teams who people want to see playing against each other. “In the last World Cup, a lot of matches went down to the last couple of overs and that’s what you want to see as an audience. Women’s cricket is providing that.” Bismah Maroof, who succeeded Sana as Pakistan captain, added, “Women’s cricket has improved massively in the past few years and it’s going from strength to strength. “The associate countries are playing really well, Scotland and Thailand have come a long way and as a full member country, Ireland have grown a lot.”