India has qualified for the 2021 women’s World Cup after the International Cricket Council declared that the points from a cancelled series against Pakistan would be shared.
The cricket governing body ICC said in a statement, “The ICC Women’s Championship Technical Committee (TC) has decided that teams will share points in all three series in the ICC Women’s Championship that did not take place during the competition window.” The series between India and Pakistan could not be played because of a `Force Majeure` event after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) demonstrated that it was unable to obtain the necessary government clearances to allow India to participate in the bilateral series against Pakistan that forms part of the ICC Women’s Championship. Also, the coronavirus pandemic forced the cancellation of two series. South Africa was to host Australia and Sri Lanka was to host New Zealand in the last round of matches.
New Zealand, the hosts of the World Cup 2021, and four highest-placed team on the ICC Women`s Championship points table, has qualified for the premier tournament. Australia topped the table with 37 points followed by England (29), South Africa (25) and India (23). Pakistan (19), New Zealand (17), West Indies (13) and Sri Lanka (5) completed the table. The ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier is scheduled to be played from 3-19 July in Sri Lanka, this is subject to review due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 10 teams vying for the three remaining places in the World Cup 2021 will be Sri Lanka, Pakistan and West Indies from the ICC Women`s Championship, the two other teams with ODI status, Bangladesh and Ireland, and the winners of the five regional qualifiers – Thailand (Asia), Zimbabwe (Africa), Papua New Guinea (East Asia Pacific), United States of America (Americas) and the Netherlands (Europe).
