Fatima Sana's hilarious Punjabi mix-up

Lahore is hosting the ICC Women's World Cup Qualifier. What do the players think of this historic city?

There's a famous saying in Punjabi, based on the title of a play: "Jinney Lahore nai vekheya, o jameya nai [Those who haven't seen Lahore haven't been born yet".

Pakistan allrounder Fatima Sana is introduced to the saying and asked to repeat it, to much laughter and confusion. In the end she phrases it so: "Those who haven't seen Lahore are not born in Lahore", which… makes sense factually, we guess?

West Indies captain Hayley Matthews attempts repeating the phrase as well, but understandably it goes worse than Sana's try. When she's given the English translation, Matthews says, "Ah we've been born then", referring to West Indies' 2024 tour of Pakistan where they won the ODI series 3-0 and the T20I series 4-1.

Ireland allrounder Orla Prendergast is asked if she has learnt any Urdu words during her tours of Pakistan, and she has, rolling them out easily: "Salam walekum, walekum assalam [greetings], shabash [well done] and shukriya [thank you]."

The 2025 Women's ODI World Cup will be played in India between September 26 and November 2. Australia, England, New Zealand, South Africa and Sri Lanka, apart from hosts India, have already qualified for the competition. The last two spots will be decided through the Qualifier, which began in Lahore earlier this month. Bangladesh and Pakistan are currently leading the points table of the Qualifier with six points each from three matches. West Indies have so far won only one of their three matches while Ireland have won one out of four.