New Delhi: The smaller Indian cities have been selected as hosts for the 2025 ICC Women's World Cup because of a rotation system for venue selection. Due to this same system, some stadiums that hosted matches during this year’s ODI World Cup won’t be utilized again for the 2026 Men's T20 World Cup, revealed an insider from the Board of Control for Cricket in India.
The five Indian cities of Guwahati, Visakhapatnam, Mullanpur, Indore, and Thiruvananthapuram are being considered as potential venues for hosting fixtures in the forthcoming Women's Cricket World Cup, which is scheduled to commence around late September. However, an official match timetable has yet to be published.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has been criticized over its choice to hold the esteemed 2025 Women’s Cricket World Cup in lesser-known places. A representative from within the Indian cricket administration stated, “Since the BCCI plans to organize the 2026 World Cup, it was agreed upon to allocate matches across various smaller towns so as not to overlook their opportunity to stage global events like this one. Consequently, those stadiums selected for hosting women's world cup fixtures will be excluded from being part of the upcoming men’s T20 World Cup.”
Next year, India and Sri Lanka will co-host the men's T20 World Cup, with venue details yet to be announced. Concurrently, India will also organize both the Women's ODI World Cup and an additional ICC women’s event, which signifies their return to hosting such tournaments for the first time since 2013 and 2016, respectively.
The Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur, Punjab, will be hosting the 2025 Women's Cricket World Cup finale. The same venue serves as the home field for the Punjab Kings in the IPL. Earlier women’s world cup finales took place at venues such as Lord's, the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Hagley Oval, Newlands, and the Dubai International Stadium.
In order to potentially include Pakistani involvement in the Cricket World Cup, the BCCI chose Thiruvananthapuram as one of the host cities. This decision was based on an earlier agreement with the Pakistan Cricket Board and because Thiruvananthapuram has special immigration and visa services not available at other considered venues. Should Pakistan qualify, their games would take place elsewhere; however, Thiruvananthapuram’s positioning aids in making travel logistics easier for competing teams from different regions.
The ICC Women's Cricket Qualifiers 2025 will be held in Pakistan starting from April 9th. This event features teams from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Ireland, West Indies, Thailand, and Scotland, where the top two performing nations will secure their spots in the World Cup.