Women’s T20 World Cup: India to face Pakistan on October 6 as ICC announce tournament schedule

India will square off against Pakistan on October 6 confirmed the International Cricket Council on Sunday as they announced the fixtures for the ninth ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024.

The tournament is set to take place from October 3 to 20 in the capital of Bangladesh, Dhaka and the northeastern city of Sylhet, with warm-up matches starting on September 27.

Ten teams will play 23 matches, over 18 action-packed days, at two venues in Bangladesh, the Shere Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka and the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium in Sylhet as the world’s best battle it out for the ultimate prize in T20 cricket.

Hosts Bangladesh and the top six teams from the previous edition in South Africa – Australia, England, New Zealand, South Africa and the West Indies -– qualified automatically for the tournament, with Pakistan joining them as the next best ranked team.

Ireland, the UAE, Sri Lanka and Scotland are in contention for the remaining two places, with the semi-finals of the qualifying tournament being held in the UAE.

Teams have been divided into two groups of five, with sides playing everyone in their group once. The top two teams from each group progress to the semi-finals, where the first-ranked team from one group clashes with the second-ranked team from the opposite group.

The winners of these semi-final matches claim the last spots in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024.

Six-times winners and current world number one Australia will play in Group A alongside India, New Zealand, Pakistan and a Qualifier 1.

Group B will feature South Africa, Bangladesh, England, West Indies, and Qualifier 2.

The schedule was unveiled at an event in Dhaka, attended by Mr. Nazmul Hassan, President of the Bangladesh Cricket Board alongside Geoff Allardice, CEO of the ICC and the Captains of India and Bangladesh women’s team- Harmanpreet Kaur and Nigar Sultana respectively.

With inputs from AFP