India to host 2025 Women's World Cup

Dubai, July 26 (IANS) India will host the 2025 Women's World Cup, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced on Tuesday.

Apart from India, Bangladesh and England will host T20 World Cups in 2024 and 2026 respectively, while Sri Lanka, subject to their qualifying for the tournament, will host the inaugural Women's Champions Trophy in 2027.

The venues for the four marquee women's global events, which are part of the next cycle of the ICC's Future Tours Programme, were ratified by the ICC Board on Tuesday in Birmingham, on the final day of the global cricket body's annual conference.

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.

"We are delighted to have awarded ICC women's white ball events to Bangladesh, India, England and Sri Lanka. 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 in a statement.

India will host the Women's ODI World Cup for the fifth time, in 2025, and its first global women's tournament since 2016 when the T20 World Cup ran parallel to the men's event. The 2025 edition is set to be similar to the 2022 edition, with eight teams taking part and playing a total of 31 matches.

Speaking of India as host for the 2025 grand event, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly said it's a step in the right direction for the popularity of women's cricket.

"India hosted the 50-over women's World Cup in 2013 and the sport has undergone tremendous transformation since then. The popularity of women's cricket is rapidly rising, and this is a step in the right direction. The BCCI will work closely with the ICC and fulfil all the requirements," said Ganguly.

Meanwhile, BCCI secretary Jay Shah said that the board "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.

"We are taking several steps to raise the profile of the sport right from the grassroots level and hosting the World Cup will further boost the popularity of the sport in the country. 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," said Shah.

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," she added.

Bangladesh in turn will be hosting the Women's T20 World Cup for the second time around.

As per ICC, the inaugural edition of the Women's ICC Champions Trophy, set to be held by Sri Lanka, will be based on the T20 format. It will be held in February 2026, with six teams competing for the trophy across 16 matches.