Sports
India to host 2025 Women’s World Cup
From 2024 to 2027, three of the four ICC tournaments in women’s cricket will likely be played in the Indian subcontinent. India has won the rights to host the ODI World Cup in 2025 whereas the T20 World Cup will be hosted by Bangladesh in 2024 and by England in 2026. Sri Lanka will host the T20 Champions Trophy in 2027 should they qualify.
The ICC said that the hosts were finalized through a “competitive bidding process” and each bid was reviewed by the board sub-committee chaired by Martin Snedden along with Clare Connor, Sourav Ganguly and Ricky Skerritt.
“Accelerating the growth of the women’s game is one of the ICC’s strategic priorities and taking these events to some of our sport’s biggest markets give us a fantastic opportunity to do that and deepen its connection with cricket’s one billion plus fans,” said ICC Chairman Greg Barclay.
Speaking on India as host for the 2025 grand event, BCCI secretary Jay Shah said that the board will “will leave no stone unturned to make it a memorable event” and how they are expecting the ICC tournament to boost the popularity of the sport further. “The BCCI remains committed to women’s cricket in India. We have the infrastructure in place, and I am confident we will have a very successful edition of the World Cup,” he added.
England will be hosting the Women’s T20 World Cup for the first time since 2009. “We saw back in 2017 how hosting the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup captured people’s imagination and I’ll never forget watching Heather Knight lift the trophy on that magical day at a sold-out Lord’s,” ECB Interim CEO Clare Connor said.
“Women’s cricket has developed rapidly since then, from the numbers of girls picking up bats through All Stars and Dynamos, joining clubs, and being able to progress on a pathway to the highest levels of performance. We’re seeing right now the positive impact that the Women’s Euros is having for football, and hosting this global cricket event will give us another incredible opportunity to inspire even more girls to pick up a bat and ball.”
Bangladesh in turn will be hosting the Women’s T20 World Cup for the second time around.
(Cricbuzz)
The ICC has finalised Ahmedabad, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai as the venues in India for the 2026 men’s T20 World Cup, which will be co-hosted by Sri Lanka as well. It is understood the ICC has shortlisted two venues in Colombo and Kandy as the three venues in Sri Lanka.
The T20 World Cup is set to begin on February 7 and will conclude with the final in Ahmedabad on March 8. According to PTI, the ICC is likely to release the schedule next week, with just about three months to go for the start of the tournament. It is understood that the majority of the participating countries have been waiting for the ICC to inform them about the grouping of teams as well as the schedule. The ICC is also yet to release ticketing information for the tournament.
Pakistan will play all their games in Sri Lanka as per the agreement reached between the BCCI and PCB for India and Pakistan to play at neutral venues during multi-nation tournaments hosted by the other country. If Pakistan make the final, the fixture will be held in Sri Lanka.
The 2026 T20 World Cup will have the same format as the previous edition – 20 teams split into four groups of five each, with every team playing the others once. The top two teams from each group will progress to the Super-eight stage, where they will be placed into two groups of four. The top two sides from each Super-eight group will then qualify for the semi-finals. The winners of the semi-final will meet in the final.
Apart from hosts India and Sri Lanka, the other teams with automatic qualification to the tournament were the top seven teams from the 2024 T20 World Cup – Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, England, South Africa, United States of America and West Indies. The three teams that qualified on the basis of their T20I rankings were New Zealand, Pakistan and Ireland.
Canada took the lone spot from the Americas Qualifier. Italy, first time T20 World Cup participants, and Netherlands, qualified from the five-team tournament in Europe. Namibia and Zimbabwe grabbed the two spots from the eight-team African qualifier before Nepal, Oman and UAE made it from the Asian -EAP round.
India are the defending champions, having beaten South Africa in the final of the 2024 T20 World Cup in Barbados.
[Cricinfo]
Mercantile Tennis Tournament 2025
Yashitha De Silva of MAS Holding beat Sanka Athukarala of Lanka Minerals & Chemical to clinch the Division I men’s singles title of the Mercantile Tennis tournament held at Sri Lanka Tennis Association courts.
Yashitha beat Sanka 6-3, 3-6, 10-8 in the final.
Dasun Shanaka has been named Sri Lanka’s vice-captain for the upcoming T20I tri-series that will also involve Pakistan and Zimbabwe. Fast bowler Eshan Malinga, meanwhile, is in line to make his debut in the same series while also being included in the ODI squad for the three matches against Pakistan before the tri-series begins.
Dilshan Madushanka has been ruled out of the ODI series as he hasn’t yet recovered from a knee injury, and was replaced by Malinga, whereas Matheesha Pathirana isn’t a part of the T20I squad as he is recovering from an upper respiratory tract infection. Pathirana was replaced by Asitha Fernando.
Top-order batter Bhanuka Rajapaksa, who last played a T20I at the start of the year, was back in the squad for the shortest format, having missed two bilateral series and the Asia Cup since then.
Left-arm spinner Dunith Wellalage didn’t find a spot in either of the 16-member squads, but he will lead Sri Lanka A in the Rising Stars T20 Asia Cup in Doha later this month.
Sri Lanka’s ODIs against Pakistan are all scheduled to be played in Rawalpindi, on November 11, 13 and 15. Those will be followed by the tri-series from November 17 in Rawalpindi and Lahore, with the final slated for November 29.
Sri Lanka squads
ODIs: Charith Asalanka (capt), Pathum Nissanka, Lahiru Udara, Kamil Mishara, Kusal Mendis, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Kamindu Mendis, Janith Liyanage, Pavan Rathnayake, Wanindu Hasaranaga, Maheesh Theekshana, Jeffrey Vandersay, Dushmantha Chameera, Asitha Fernando, Pramod Madushan, Eshan Malinga
T20I tri-series: Charith Asalanka (capt), Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis, Kusal Perera, Kamil Mishara, Dasun Shanaka (vice-capt), Kamindu Mendis, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Janith Liyanage, Wanindu Hasaranaga, Maheesh Theekshana, Dushan Hemantha, Dushmantha Chameera, Nuwan Thushara, Asitha Fernando, Eshan Malinga
[Cricinfo]
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