ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025: Complete match schedule, venues & India Women’s road to the title.
The Women’s ODI World Cup 2025 will begin on September 30, with India and Sri Lanka meeting at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. Pakistan will play all their encounters in Colombo by accepting the hybrid model signed by the BCCI and the PCB. Colombo is also in line to host the final and semi-final only if the Green Brigade qualifies.
The upcoming season will be the 13th edition since the event’s inception in 1973. Defending champions Australia, who clinched their seventh title in 2022, went on to top the ICC Women’s Championship Standings. They grabbed 18 victories and three defeats in 24 fixtures.
The top six sides of the competition qualified automatically for the 50-over event. England, New Zealand, South Africa, and Sri Lanka collected their ticket via the championship games alongside hosts India. In April this year, Bangladesh and Pakistan booked their place by finishing in the top two of the Qualifier.
India to face Pakistan in Colombo; England-Australia meeting in Indore
The biggest high-profile game of the competition between India Women and Pakistan will occur on October 05 at the neutral venue of R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. Alyssa Healy’s army will start their campaign on October 1 at the Holkar Stadium in Indore against the White Ferns.
The other marquee clash of the tournament between Australia and England, a rematch of the previous season’s final, will happen on October 22. Visakhapatnam will host the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side’s meeting against the defending champions.
Pakistan will play their group-stage clashes in three weeks. The only morning game (starting at 11 am IST) will be between New Zealand and England at Guwahati. Meanwhile, the rest of the tournament will begin at 3 pm IST.
The Nigar Sultana-led side is playing their games in Colombo due to the current strained relationship between India and Pakistan. A fewmonths ago, the Blue Brigade played their Champions Trophy 2025 games in Dubai instead of the host country, Pakistan. In turn, the PCB expressed that they would not travel to the neighbouring country in the future.
It’s the first women’s ODI World Cup India are hosting since 2013. There is no change in the format from the last edition in 2022. Eight teams will play each other in the round-robin format, with the top four making it into the semi-finals.
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India eye improvement after poor Women’s ODI World Cup 2022
The runners-up of the 2017 Women’s ODI World Cup aim to improve their performance after a poor last season. They gained only three victories in seven group-stage clashes in New Zealand to finish in fifth position. All of their defeats came by a huge margin.
However, the second-ranked side has made an impressive comeback in the format. They recently won the tri-series involving hosts Sri Lanka and South Africa. During the home 50-over series against the Proteas last year, they blew away the visitors with a 3-0 margin.
It’s incredible how Harmanpreet Kaur’s army has lost only to Australia in the bilateral 50-over series since the last ODI World Cup. Healy’s team punched the Blue Brigade with a couple of series victories, both coming at a 3-0 margin. The only other side to challenge India in this period was New Zealand, which lost the 2024/25 series by 2-1.
Since the start of 2023, Smriti Mandhana has been the leading run-getter in women’s ODIs with 1400 runs in 25 innings. She carries an average of 56 with six centuries and as many fifties.
Jamimah Rodrigues has also been in good touch during this period, with 944 runs in 24 innings at a strike rate of nearly 100. However, there are concerns over Kaur’s form. The veteran has collected only 621 runs since January 2023 at an average of 34.50.
In the bowling department, Deepti Sharma has been India’s leading ODI wicket-taker since the beginning of 2023. The 27-year-old picked up 44 scalps in 25 innings at an average of below 22 and an economy rate of 4.23. However, the issue is the backups. The next bowler for the Blue Brigade in the list is Sneh Rana, with 20 scalps in 10 innings.
India have gone through a strong performance in the 50-over format of late. They will now need to carry the form on the big stage. With several experienced players on the side in familiar conditions, they can certainly beat the top sides. The bottom line is only about holding nerves under pressure.
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