Force Majeure event after the Board of Control of 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, which forms a part of the competition.
The other two series which were cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic are Australia’s tour of South Africa and New Zealand’s tour of Sri Lanka. The India-Pakistan series was originally scheduled in the sixth round of the competition, between July and November last year. But despite the best efforts of both the boards, it was unable to take place.
ALSO READ: India's tour to England under cloudAll eight teams in the 2017-2020 edition of the ICC Women’s Championship play each other in a three-match series. While New Zealand have already qualified as the hosts of ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2021, Australia (37 points), England (29), South Africa (25) and now India (23) have qualified by virtue of being the top four.
The ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier is scheduled to be played from July 3-19 in Sri Lanka, this is subject to review due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 10 teams vying for remaining three places in the one-day international cricket’s pinnacle event will be the hosts, Sri Lanka, along with 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).
ICC Championship 2017-2020 points table:
Team |
M |
W |
L |
T |
N/R |
NRR |
Pts |
Australia |
21 |
17 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
1.835 |
37 |
England |
21 |
14 |
6 |
0 |
1 |
1.267 |
29 |
South Africa |
21 |
10 |
6 |
1 |
4 |
-0.309 |
25 |
India |
21 |
10 |
8 |
0 |
3 |
0.465 |
23 |
Pakistan |
21 |
7 |
9 |
1 |
4 |
-0.460 |
19 |
New Zealand |
21 |
7 |
11 |
0 |
3 |
-0.206 |
17 |
West Indies |
21 |
6 |
14 |
0 |
1 |
-1.033 |
13 |
Sri Lanka |
21 |
1 |
17 |
0 |
3 |
-1.611 |
5 |