CHENNAI: Days after the 2025 Women's ODI World Cup schedule was announced, India and Pakistan are slotted in the same group for the 2026 Women's T20 World Cup (England) as the fixtures were released on Wednesday. In the ODI World Cup as well, India are scheduled to play Pakistan on October 5 at a neutral venue (Colombo).
These announcements comes about a month and a half after the cross border tensions between India and Pakistan. The two countries have not played bilateral cricket since 2013 and only play each other in multi-team tournament. Whether it is Asia Cup or ICC events, they have been grouped together since 2014 as India-Pakistan is perhaps the most-anticipated and watched contest. However, following the terror attack in Pahalgam on April 22, tensions rose between the two countries which led to escalations along the border. This led to speculations over whether India would play Pakistan in multi-tournament events. There have been calls of boycotts as well with some former players supporting it.
Though the ODI World Cup will be played in the round robin format which means every team plays each other at least once, the format of the Women's T20 World Cup is different. The teams are divided into two groups.
As per the existing agreement, Pakistan will not travel to India and will play all their games in Sri Lanka during the ODI World Cup. The two countries came to the understanding ahead of the 2025 Champions Trophy that neither team will travel to the other for any event and will play at a neutral venue. In accordance with that India played all their games in Dubai during the Champions Trophy hosted by Pakistan.
Now, it remains to be seen whether the agreement continues. As things stand, apart from the two women's tournaments, there is a men's Asia Cup as well as men's T20 World Cup to be played in the next six months. Even though the ICC released the schedules for the games between India and Pakistan in both women's events, it needs be seen how the games go ahead. The BCCI is yet to say anything concrete as of now.
With three months to go for the women's ODI World Cup, hosted by India, there will be more clarity in the days and weeks to come.
Earlier in May, India men's team head coach Gautam Gambhir, while speaking at an event in New Delhi had said that in his personal opinion India should not play Pakistan. "Till all this [terrorism] doesn't stop, there should not be anything between India and Pakistan. Ultimately, this is the government's decision whether we play them or not. I have said this before also, no cricket match or Bollywood or any other interaction is more important than the life of Indian soldiers and Indian citizens. Matches will keep happening, movies will be made, singers will continue to perform, but nothing comes close to losing a loved one in your family. This is not up to me, it's not in my jurisdiction, this is for BCCI and, more importantly, the government to decide whether we should play them or not. Whatever decision they make, we should be absolutely fine with it and not politicise it," Gambhir had said at an ABP event.
