India women’s T20I series in West Indies ahead of the World T20 cancelled

India eves are set to miss out on crucial match practice ahead of the ICC Women’s World T20 as their scheduled bilateral T20I series against the Windies in St Kitts has been cancelled. Although the three-match series was to be officially confirmed by the cricket boards of the two countries, it was supposed to give the Indian side some crucial practice ahead of the mega tournament starting next month.

In July, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had given a proposal for the Indian team to travel early to the Caribbeans and play three T20Is with the home side before the official warm-up games began for the World T20. However, since the proposal came in the last minute and it was outside the ICC Women’s Championship structure where the Windies will host India in 2017-20 cycle, a schedule was yet to be made. The BCCI later named a squad only for the World T20 last month.

“CWI & BCCI were hoping to schedule three International T20s in St. Kitts ahead of the Women’s World T20, as part of our respective preparation plans. As the series was not part of any bilateral future tours programme, CWI has been discussing the financials with the BCCI and unfortunately, the matches will now not be taking place. Both teams will instead be training in Antigua before the ICC preparation period begins.”,” Cricket West Indies released the statement according to Cricbuzz.

India to play Pakistan on November 11

The Women in Blue are clubbed with Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and arch-rivals Pakistan in Group B of the tournament. They will play all their group matches in Providence and will take on Pakistan on November 11. The two top teams from the two groups will advance to the semi-finals. The hosts Windies are in Group A with England, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

India women’s team has not been able to qualify beyond the group stages in the previous editions of World T20 and they would have loved to get familiar with the Windies’ conditions by playing as many games before the start of the world championship. Of the 15-member Indian squad, only skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, Mithali Raj, Veda Krishnamurthy and Ekta Bisht have the experience of playing in the Caribbeans where they had toured in 2012.

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