Women's World Cup 2025: Navi Mumbai replaces Bengaluru as venue - ICC issues revised schedule

MUMBAI: Bengaluru's loss is Navi Mumbai's gain. The International Cricket Council on Friday announced that the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai has replaced the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru as one of the five venues for the Women's 50-over World Cup, which will kick off on Sept 30."The unavailability of Chinnaswamy Stadium has seen Navi Mumbai replace Bengaluru as one of the five venues for the Women's 50-over World Cup. The ICC have announced a revised schedule for the upcoming ICC Women's Cricket World Cup in India and Sri Lanka. Navi Mumbai replaces Bengaluru as one of the five venues for the eight-team tournament that commences on 30 Sept due to the unavailability of the M Chinnaswamy Stadium," the ICC stated in a media release on Friday.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!The 2025 Women's World Cup matches were moved out of Bengaluru as the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) failed to secure permission for the games following the tragic events of June 4 when RCB's victory march turned tragic resulting in death of 11 fans and injuries to scores due to a stampede, despite being granted an extension in this regard by the BCCI. The DY Patil Stadium will now host five matches in the tournament, which comprise the three league matches (Bangladesh versus Sri Lanka match on Oct 20, India versus New Zealand clash on Oct 23, India versus Bangladesh match on Oct 26, the second semifinal on Oct 30 and potentially the final (provided that Pakistan don't make it to the summit clash) of the 13th edition of the Women's ODI World Cup on Nov 2. The opening match of the tournament, between hosts India and Sri Lanka, will now be held on Sept 30 in Guwahati. The rest of the schedule of the tournament remains unchanged.This will be the first-ever ICC tournament to be staged at the world-class DY Pati Stadium, which has witnessed a full house (45,000 capacity crowd) for Women's international matches in recent years-the 20022 India versus Australia T20I series being a prime example. The DY Patil Stadium had staged 11 matches of the inaugural season of the Women's Premier League in March 2023. The state of the art stadium also hosted Indian Premier League (IPL) finals in 2008 and 2010, when the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai was undergoing massive renovation.Endorsing the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai as "a genuine home for women's cricket," ICC chairman Jay Shah said, “Navi Mumbai has emerged as a genuine home for women’s cricket in recent years. The support it has received during international fixtures and the Women’s Premier League has been remarkable, creating an atmosphere that elevates the players and inspires fans. I am certain that the same energy will define the big matches of the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup as it returns to India after 12 years." “We stand at a pivotal moment in the journey of the women’s game. This World Cup has the potential to be remembered as one of those defining milestones that shaped the sport’s future, not only in India but across the cricketing world. While unforeseen circumstances required us to adjust the schedule and replace a venue, we are pleased to now have a line-up of five world-class venues that will showcase the very best of the women’s game. The stage is set, and I am confident this tournament will capture imaginations and inspire a new generation of fans,” he added.Expressing his gratitude to ICC chairman Jay Shah after being asked to host an ICC tournament for the first time in the venue's history, Vijay Patil, the owner of the DY Patil Stadium, and a former president of the Mumbai Cricket Association, told TOI on Friday,"I would like to thank Jay Shah, the chairman of the International Cricket Council, BCCI for allocating the Women's World Cup matches to the DY Patil Stadium for the first time ever. It's a great step forward for Women's cricket and a massive opportunity for fans in the region. I am truly thrilled and overwhelmed with news," The tournament dates of 30 September - 2 November remain unchanged, as do the other venues, which are the ACA Stadium (Guwahati), Holkar Stadium (Indore), ACA-VDCA Stadium (Visakhapatnam) and R. Premadasa Stadium (Colombo, Sri Lanka).The final of the tournament will be held either in Colombo or Navi Mumbai on 2 November, with the first semifinal set to be in Guwahati or Colombo on 29 October and the second semifinal in Navi Mumbai on 30 October.The ICC announcement ended days of suspense over the venue which will replace Bengaluru as the host of the upcoming Women's World Cup, which begins from Sept 30 in India and Sri Lanka. It had been reported by the media that Thiruvananthapuram too is a favourite for the displaced games, but again, Kerala experiences relentless rain at that time of the year. The only glitch is that Mumbai too experiences incessant rain till the end of Sept, but the monsoon should relent when the tournament moves to Navi Mumbai on Oct 23. Last Monday, the ICC marked the 50-day countdown to the tournament with an event in Mumbai.The uncertainty over Bengaluru matches led the ICC to delay the ticket sales for the matches of the tournament too.The Chinnaswamy Stadium was initially allotted five games of the 2025 Women's World Cup. Besides the tournament opener, the other league games originally slotted to Bengaluru were England-South Africa (on October 3), India-Bangladesh (on October 26), and then the two knockout matches. However, things became difficult, with the State Government toughening its stand towards cricket matches at the Chinnaswamy Stadium following the stampede tragedy. The Karnataka government recently did not give permission for the Maharaja Cup which had to be shifted to Mysuru.The eight competing teams for the Women's World Cup are Australia, England, South Africa, New Zealand, Bangladesh and Pakistan besides hosts India and Sri Lanka. There are 31 games in all in the competition, including 28 league matches, two semifinals and the final.