India will host the Women’s 50-over World Cup in 2025 as the BCCI successfully bid for the event on Tuesday.
The mega event will return to the country after more than a decade. The last time a women’s ICC major event was held in India was in the year 2013. At that time, Team Australia had emerged champions after defeating West Indies by 114 runs in the final in Mumbai.
The 50-over Women’s World Cup has been a stand-alone event since its inception in 1973, two years before the introduction of the men’s mega event in England in 1975.
India hosted the event thrice in the following years:
Three other ICC women’s events were also awarded on the day, with Bangladesh hosting the 2024 T20 World Cup and England winning the hosting rights for the 2026 edition.
Sri Lanka will host the inaugural T20 Champions Trophy in 2027.
“We were keen to host the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025 and we are delighted that we have secured the hosting rights for this marquee clash on the women’s calendar,” BCCI President Sourav Ganguly was quoted as saying.
“The game has changed tremendously since then. The popularity of women’s cricket is increasing rapidly, and this is a step in the right direction. The BCCI will work closely with the ICC and meet all the requirements.”
BCCI Secretary Jay Shah said: “We are taking several steps to raise the profile of the game from the grassroots level and hosting the World Cup will further boost the popularity of the game in the country.
“BCCI is committed to women’s cricket in India. We have the infrastructure in place, and I am confident that we will have a very successful edition of the World Cup.”
In the 2025 Women’s World Cup, the ICC Women’s Championship (IWC) from 2022-2025, the hosts and the top five nations will get direct entry into the tournament.
The remaining two teams will be identified through a global qualifier consisting of six teams. Of the six teams in the qualifiers, four will be from the IWC (ranked after the top five teams) and the other two will be selected according to the ICC Women’s ODI Team Rankings.
Other major decisions:
- The ICC Board approved both men’s and women’s Future Tours Program (FTP) from 2023 to 2027 and these will be published in the coming days.
- VVS Laxman has been appointed as the current player representative in the ICC Men’s Cricket Committee along with former New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori.
- The Board approved the process of electing the next ICC President which will be held in November 2022. The election would be decided by a simple majority unlike in earlier years when a two-thirds majority was necessary.
- Cambodia, Ivory Coast, Uzbekistan are new ICC Associate Members
(Inputs from PTI)