Bengaluru's addition in Women's WC venues the right mix
New Delhi: The ICC's official announcement of the ICC ODI Women's World Cup seems to include a meaningful course correction. To be hosted from September 30 to November 2, the tournament will be played across five venues in India and Sri Lanka. The choice of cities, especially the inclusion of Bengaluru, tells a deeper story about the need to strategise around women's cricket.
The five selected venues are M Chinnaswamy Stadium (Bengaluru), ACA Stadium (Guwahati), Holkar Stadium (Indore), ACA-VDCA Stadium (Visakhapatnam), and R Premadasa Stadium (Colombo).
Earlier reports had suggested that the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Stadium (Mullanpur) and Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium (Raipur) were also scheduled to host the matches.
Now, it is a well-rounded mix. The inclusion of Bengaluru – the only Tier I city in the list seems to reflect growing awareness and an acknowledgment of where the energy around women's cricket lies.
Bengaluru isn't just a big city with a good stadium, it's one of the few Indian cities that has consistently shown up for women's cricket.
It hosted two of the three WPL seasons so far with impressive turnouts driven in part by the home team Royal Challengers Bengaluru, but also including a genuine interest in the women's game. When India played South Africa in a three-match ODI series in June last year, the Chinnaswamy stands were once again filled.
There was some criticism when early reports on venue selection left out Bengaluru, Mumbai, and even Vadodara, which had successfully hosted both WPL games and West Indies women's ODIs recently.
Although there is value in expanding the game to new regions, the current mix is likely to ensure there is a smaller possibility of empty stands and damp atmospheres. It has happened before in India, most recently during the 2023 Men's ODI World Cup, where even stadiums in Ahmedabad and Lucknow struggled to fill seats, especially for non-India matches. That risk is higher when it comes to women's cricket which still battles for equal visibility.
The tournament will open on September 30 in Bengaluru, and the first semi-final will be played on October 29, in either Guwahati or Colombo. The second semi-final is scheduled for October 30 in Bengaluru.
As for the final, set for November 2, there's a caveat -- under an agreement between the BCCI and the Pakistan Cricket Board, if Pakistan qualifies, the final will be hosted in Colombo. Otherwise, Bengaluru is likely to stage the final match.
Now, the real test is whether this mix of venues can deliver not only entertaining cricket but also the kind of audience the women's game deserves.
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