india: India to open campaign against Pakistan in 2023 women’s T20 World Cup

India will begin their campaign in the 2023 Women’s T20 World Cup against arch-rivals Pakistan in Cape Town on February 12, according to the fixture announced by the ICC on Monday. India have been placed in Group 2 along with England, West Indies, Pakistan and qualifier Ireland for the February 10-26 tournament to be held in South Africa.

India’s second match will also be played against West Indies in Cape Town on February 15, before taking on England and Ireland on February 18 and 20 at Gakbarah.

Hosts South Africa will take on Sri Lanka in the first match in Cape Town. The final will also be held in Cape Town on 26 February, with a reserve day available on the following day in case of a major interruption of play on the scheduled date.

Cape Town, Paarl and Gakbarah will host the matches of the tournament, with the knockout matches being played in Cape Town. Twenty-three matches will be played in a 10-team tournament.

Bangladesh and Ireland complete the list of participating teams in the eighth edition of the Women’s T20 World Cup along with Australia, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and West Indies.

Five-time title winners and defending champions Australia are placed in Group 1 along with their trans-Tasmanian rivals New Zealand, hosts South Africa, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Bangladesh recently won the final of the Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier by defeating Ireland, the second qualifying team to be placed in Group 2.

In the group stage, which runs until 21 February, each team will play the other four teams in their group once. The top two teams in each group play the semi-finals at the end of the group stage.

Originally published at Pen 18