New Delhi: Indian women’s cricket team is set to play warmup matches against England and New Zealand ahead of the women’s ODI World Cup later this year. The showpiece women’s event is being jointly organised by India and Sri Lanka in the September-October window and the warmup matches will take place in Bengaluru.
Firstly, India will take on England in their first warmup game on September 25 at BCCI’s Centre of Excellence ground and then play New Zealand at the iconic Chinnaswamy stadium on September 27, three days before the marquee event starts at the same venue on September 30. Meanwhile, Pakistan will play both their warmup games as well as its World Cup matches in Sri Lanka as agreed mutually by the BCCI and Pakistan Cricket Board.
The Women in Green will play their warmup matches in Colombo on September 25 and 28 at the Colombo Cricket Club against Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka A teams respectively.
ICC issues release
‘In all, nine day-night matches will be played from September 25-28 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, the BCCI Centre of Excellence 1 ground (both Bengaluru), R Premadasa Stadium and Colombo Cricket Club (both Colombo),’ ICC said in a release on Tuesday.
According to the release, eight team will compete in the round-robin warmups with matches across four venues in the cities of Bengaluru and Colombo. Defending champions Australia is the only team not playing on the first day of the warmups. They will start with a game against England at the BCCI Centre of Excellence 1 ground on September 27.
The ODI World Cup, which is returning to the sub-continent after 12 years, will be played from September 30 to November 2 across five venues in India and Sri Lanka – M Chinnaswamy Stadium (Bengaluru), ACA Stadium (Guwahati), Holkar Stadium (Indore), ACA-VDCA Stadium (Visakhapatnam) and R Premdasa Stadium (Colombo).
Warmup match schedule
September 25: Bengaluru – India vs England at BCCI Centre of Excellence 1 ground; South Africa vs New Zealand at M Chinnaswamy Stadium. Colombo – Sri Lanka vs Pakistan at Colombo Cricket Club; Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka ‘A’ at R Premadasa Stadium.
September 27: Bengaluru – Australia vs England at BCCI Centre of Excellence 1 ground; India vs New Zealand at M Chinnaswamy Stadium. Colombo – Sri Lanka versus Bangladesh at Colombo Cricket Club.
September 28: Bengaluru – South Africa vs India ‘A’ at BCCI Centre of Excellence 1 ground. Colombo – Pakistan vs Sri Lanka ‘A’ at Colombo Cricket Club.
(With PTI inputs)