Cliff Notes – Women’s ODI World Cup at four Indian venues and Colombo
- The 2025 Women’s ODI World Cup will take place from September 30 to November 2 across Bengaluru, Guwahati, Visakhapatnam, and Indore, with Colombo as a neutral venue for Pakistan’s matches.
- Bengaluru will host the tournament opener and the second semi-final, while the first semi-final’s location depends on Pakistan’s qualification status.
- The tournament format will feature eight teams in a round-robin structure, with 31 matches scheduled, and notable absences include the West Indies, who failed to qualify.
Women’s ODI World Cup at four Indian venues and Colombo
The 2025 Women’s ODI World Cup will be played from September 30 to November 2 in Bengaluru, Guwahati, Visakhapatnam and Indore in India, with Colombo in Sri Lanka as a neutral venue.
Though the full schedule is yet to be released by the ICC, it’s likely that all of Pakistan’s league games will be in Colombo according to the hybrid model agreed by the BCCI and PCB. The need for this arrangement arose due to strained relations between the two countries and India playing their 2025 men’s Champions Trophy matches in Dubai instead of in the host country Pakistan. The PCB in turn said Pakistan would not travel to India for future tournaments.
The 2025 Women’s ODI World Cup opener involving India will be played in Benglauru, which will also host the second semi-final on October 30. The first semi-final will be played in Guwahati or Colombo, depending on whether Pakistan qualify. The final on November 2 will be held in either Bengaluru or Colombo for similar reasons.
New Chandigarh, which was earlier in the running to host matches, including the final, was dropped from the list of venues. ESPNcricinfo understands the BCCI received internal feedback raising concerns over India potentially playing a final at a venue where they haven’t played a single international fixture.
Bengaluru, in contrast, has regularly hosted games and has attracted strong crowds for international matches as well as the Women’s Premier League.
India are hosting the Women’s ODI World Cup for the first time since 2013. They also hosted the Women’s T20 World Cup in 2016. The format for the 2025 tournament will be the same as in 2022, with each of the eight teams playing the other in a round robin format, with the top four making the semi-finals. A total of 31 matches will be played.
Australia, England, New Zealand, South Africa and Sri Lanka, apart from hosts India, qualified directly for the tournament. The last two spots were taken by Pakistan and Bangladesh at the Women’s World Cup Qualifiers in Lahore earlier this year. The tournament will not feature West Indies, who narrowly missed out on net run rate to Bangladesh.
The Oval, Lord’s to host 2026 Women’s T20 WC semis and final
The 2026 Women’s T20 World Cup in England will begin on June 12 at Edgbaston, Birmingham and end on July 5, with the final at Lord’s. The semi-finals will be played at The Oval on June 30 and July 2.
The tournament will include 12 teams, more than any of its previous editions and up from 10 last year. It comprises 33 matches in 24 days at seven venues, the other four being Manchester, Leeds, Southampton and Bristol.
England, Australia, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, West Indies and defending champions New Zealand have already qualified for the 2026 Women’s T20 World Cup. The remaining four teams will be decided at a qualifying tournament next year.