India, Australia in Group A of Women’s T20 WC; Scotland qualify

Dubai: India were on Sunday placed in Group A alongside defending champions Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan in the Women’s T20 World Cup, which will be held in Bangladesh from October 3-20 this year. With all their group matches scheduled to be played at Sylhet, India will open their campaign against New Zealand on October 4 and face off against arch-rivals Pakistan on October 6 as the ICC announced the schedule for the ninth edition of the Women’s T20 WC.

India’s next assignment will be against yet-to-be-identified Qualifier 1 team on October 9 while their clash against six-time world champions Australia will be on October 13.

“Each side will play four group matches at the tournament, with the top two teams from each group progressing to the cut-throat semi-finals on 17 and 18 October ahead of the Final in Dhaka on 20 October,” the ICC posted on its website.

“In total, there will be 23 matches played across 19 days in Dhaka and Sylhet, with reserve days in place for both the semi-finals and the final should they be required,” the ICC added.

Hosts Bangladesh are placed in Group B along with South Africa, England, West Indies and Qualifier 2.

The two teams will enter the main tournament after the Qualifying event identifies the two finalists at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Sunday. In the first semifinal, Scotland beat Ireland by eight wickets to enter the final of the Qualifier, and thereby qualified for the ICC marquee event for the first time. After restricting Ireland to 110 for nine, Scotland registered 112 for two to make a piece of history for themselves.

UAE will face Sri Lanka in the second semifinal later in the night.