Mullanpur to host women WC final
The Maharaja Yadavindra Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) International Cricket Stadium, Mullanpur, will host its first-ever major International Cricket Council (ICC) event in October. The final of the 50-over Women’s World Cup, which is set to be hosted in India from September 29 to October 26, will be organised at the Mullanpur stadium, while Vishakhapatnam, Thiruvananthapuram, Raipur and Indore will be other venues for the tournament matches.
Besides hosting the final, the Mullanpur facility is also likely to host some league or knock-out matches of the same tournament.
Australia, England, New Zealand, South Africa and Sri Lanka, apart from hosts India, have already qualified for the competition. The last two spots will be decided through the Women’s World Cup qualifiers that will be played in Lahore from April 9. If Pakistan qualifies, they will play their matches either in the UAE or Sri Lanka as part of a reciprocal arrangement between the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).
India are hosting the Women’s World Cup for the first time since 2013, where they exited at the group stage. They also hosted the women’s T20 World Cup in 2016. The format for the 2025 edition will be the same as in 2022, with eight teams playing a total of 31 matches. India are yet to win the tournament. The closest they came to being crowned champions was in 2017, when they were runners-up to England. This will be the first ODI World Cup for India after the retirement of Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami.
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Meanwhile, India will host the West Indies after 12 years in a two-match Test series in October. The hosts will take on the West Indies in the first Test at Mullanpur from October 2, while the second Test will be held at Eden Gardens in Kolkata from October 10. The West Indies' previous Test tour to India was in 2013-14, which was also the final international outing for batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar.
So far, besides hosting a series of domestic matches and also a match of Rest of India and winners of the Col CK Nayudu Trophy, the Mullanpur stadium has hosted five matches of the IPL last year.
In the ongoing IPL season, the stadium is scheduled to host four matches of Punjab Kings against Rajasthan Royals (April 5), Chennai Super Kings (April 8), Kolkata Knight Riders (April 15) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (April 20).
