Inaugural ICC Women's Champions Trophy To be Held In India Next Year, Dates Announced

India will host the inaugural Women's Champions Trophy next year, ICC has announced. The event was supposed to be held in Sri Lanka originally, but will now be played at the Cricket Club of India in Mumbai and the Vadodara International Cricket Stadium in Vadodara, from February 14 to 28.

After carefully evaluating Bangladesh, India, and South Africa's hosting capability against their host evaluation criteria, India was awarded the hosting rights. There will be no Pakistan in the tournament as Australia, England, India, New Zealand, South Africa and Sri Lanka will feature in the inaugural edition.

Why ICC Stripped Sri Lanka From Hosting?

ICC had already stripped Sri Lanka of their hosting rights due to government interference, as per reports. A government-appointed Transformation Committee is currently ruinning Sri Lanka Cricket after the government dismissed the former office bearers.

The Transformation Committee is responsible for bringing in reforms and as per Cricbuzz, a draft constitution has already been sent to the Sports Minister. ICC also didn't allow any SLC representative in board meetings since they don't allow a politically appointed interim administration.

ICC Chairman Jay Shah said, “The ICC Women’s Champions Trophy 2027 marks an exciting new chapter for women’s cricket.

“As the inaugural edition of the tournament, it will bring together the best teams in the world in an intense, high-quality competition, while creating even greater incentive for teams to continue rising through the rankings and competing for a place on the global stage.”

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The Women's Champions Trophy will be played in the T20I format and will be played and six teams will compete in a round-robin format. Top two teams will contest in the final. India lifted their maiden Women's ODI World Cup title and will hope to replicate their success.