Pakistan secured a spot in the ICC Women’s World Cup 2025 after a strong 67-run win over Thailand at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on Thursday. They’ve now won all four of their matches in the qualifier, going into the final round with a perfect record.
Pakistan Secures Spot in ICC Women’s World Cup 2025
Pakistan is the first team to qualify from the six-nation event, which also includes Bangladesh, West Indies, Ireland, Scotland, and Thailand. The top two teams from this tournament will qualify for the World Cup, set to be held in India between September and November.
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Pakistan’s qualification for the ICC Women’s World Cup 2025 has created some challenges for the BCCI and India.
Since India is hosting the tournament this year, Pakistan’s matches will need to be held at a “neutral venue” outside India. This will also affect Indian fans, as the highly anticipated India vs Pakistan matches won’t be played in the host country.
This arrangement was made earlier when India decided not to travel to Pakistan for the 2025 Champions Trophy held in February-March. Pakistan wasn’t happy with that decision, but the ICC stepped in and reached a compromise.
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As part of that agreement, all India vs Pakistan matches in ICC events until 2027 will be played at neutral venues. This applies to the ICC Men’s Champions Trophy 2025 (hosted by Pakistan), the ICC Women’s World Cup 2025 (hosted by India), and the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 (hosted by India and Sri Lanka).
It was also announced that Pakistan will host the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in 2028, and the same neutral venue rule will apply for India’s matches.
Earlier this year, during the 2025 Men’s Champions Trophy, the Indian men’s team refused to travel to Pakistan. So, all of India’s matches were played in Dubai. Teams that had to play against India had to travel between Pakistan and Dubai. A similar setup will be needed for teams playing against Pakistan in the 2025 Women’s World Cup.
This makes things more complicated for the BCCI, as they now have to organize part of the tournament outside India. They need to find a neutral venue for matches involving Pakistan.
According to ESPNcricinfo, the final of the Women’s World Cup 2025 will be held at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Stadium in Mullanpur. Other venues include Vishakhapatnam, Thiruvananthapuram, Raipur, and Indore.
If Pakistan makes it to the semi-finals or final, those matches will also need to be played outside India.
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