Pakistan to play in Sri Lanka as ICC unveils Women’s World Cup dates, venues

DUBAI: The International Cricket Council (ICC) has officially unveiled the dates and venues for the Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025, confirming that Pakistan will play all of their matches in Sri Lanka.

The marquee tournament is set to take place from September 30 to November 2, with matches spread across five venues in India and Sri Lanka.

The selected venues for the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025 include M. Chinnaswamy Stadium (Bengaluru), ACA Stadium (Guwahati), Holkar Stadium (Indore), ACA-VDCA Stadium (Visakhapatnam), and R. Premadasa Stadium (Colombo).

As per the ‘fusion formula,’ a diplomatic arrangement adopted in the lead-up to the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, Pakistan and India will not travel to each other’s territory for ICC events for the next three years.

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Consequently, Pakistan’s matches will be held exclusively in Colombo, marking the neutral venue agreement in action. The knockout stage of the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025 is also structured with this arrangement in mind.

The first semi-final will be held either in Guwahati or Colombo on October 29, while Bengaluru will host the second semi-final a day later.

The final is scheduled for November 2 in Bengaluru, but if Pakistan qualify, the championship clash will shift to Colombo.

Eight teams will contest the 13th edition of the ICC Women’s World Cup — hosts India and Sri Lanka, alongside Pakistan, Australia, England, New Zealand, South Africa, and Bangladesh.

Defending champions Australia will enter the tournament as favourites, having clinched their seventh title in the previous edition by defeating England in the final in 2022.

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