CHENNAI: With the Women's ODI World Cup Qualifiers coming to an abrupt end due to Covid-19 last month, the ICC has announced the full fixture for the marquee tournament that is scheduled to begin in March 4 next year. While hosts New Zealand would face West Indies in the tournament opener, India will start their campaign against Pakistan in a day-night clash on March 6 at Bay Oval in Tauranga.
The eight-team tournament would be played in a round-robin format, with the top four teams qualifying for the semifinals. Australia, England, New Zealand, South Africa and India had directly qualified for the global event on the basis of their respective ICC world championship cycle standings. West Indies, Pakistan and Bangladesh were announced as the other three teams based on their ICC rankings after the qualifying tournament ended midway.
All of India's seven games are day-night fixtures spread across four different grounds — Bay Oval, Seddon Park, Eden Park and Hagley Oval. They will play defending champions England — to whom they lost the final in 2017 — and the T20 World Cup winners Australia on March 16 and 19, respectively.
The semifinals will take place on March 30 and 31, with the summit clash scheduled on April 3 at Hagley Oval, Christchurch.
CWG22 Qualifier to begin in January 2nd week
The Commonwealth Games 2022 cricket qualifiers for the one available spot is all set to begin in Malaysia in the second week of January next year. While the tournament was initially expected to be a 10-team affair, it has been reliably learnt that five to six teams are likely to be participating in the event. Earlier, England, India, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Barbados, and Pakistan directly qualified for the event that would be played in the T20 format.
The qualifying tournament will be a round-robin event where the team that finishes at the top will seal its berth for the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. At the moment, only hosts Malaysia and Scotland are known to be the confirmed participants in the tournament. However, an official announcement is expected from the ICC with the teams and the schedule shortly.
India's 2022 WC schedule