Defending Champions Australia Set to Make UAE Debut at Women’s T20 World Cup
Defending champions Australia will make their debut appearance on UAE soil as they kick off their Women’s T20 World Cup campaign against Sri Lanka, the current Asia Cup champions, on October 5 in Sharjah. India, on the other hand, will open their tournament a day earlier, facing off against New Zealand in Dubai.
Apart from the powerhouses India and Australia, two other teams – England and West Indies – will also be featuring in a T20I on UAE shores for the first time during this 10-team event, which was moved out of Bangladesh due to country-wide agitations earlier this month.
The updated tournament fixtures were unveiled on Monday, with matches split equally across Dubai and Sharjah for the group stages. Australia will play three of their four group fixtures in Sharjah, while India will compete in three games in Dubai. The highly anticipated India vs Australia rematch of the 2022 semi-final is scheduled for October 13 in Sharjah.
Notably, both semi-finals and the final will have a reserve day in place, unlike the men’s T20 World Cup in June where the semi-final involving India wasn’t allotted a reserve day.
Among the participating teams, Scotland and Sri Lanka are the only ones to have recently featured in the Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifiers 2024, with Sri Lanka winning all six matches and Scotland victorious in four out of six games to secure their spots.
Interestingly, Dubai has never hosted a women’s T20I match before. However, all teams will play two warm-up fixtures each from September 28 to October 3 to acclimatize to the conditions.
Tournament Format
Each side will play four group matches, with the top two teams from each group advancing to the semi-finals. Australia, India, New Zealand, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are in Group A, while South Africa, England, West Indies, Bangladesh and Scotland make up Group B. The afternoon games will start at 2 pm local time, while the evening matches, including the semi-finals and final, will commence at 6 pm.
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