India to face arch-rival Pakistan again, this time in women’s World Cup 2022 opening encounter on THIS date

Indian cricket team will open their ICC women's World Cup 2022 campaign against neighbours Pakistan. (Source: Twitter)

India will face Pakistan in their opening match of ICC Women’s World Cup 2022 in Tauranga, New Zealand, on March 6, 2022. The showpiece event will get underway on March 4, 2022 at the Bay Oval in Tauranga, with the hosts New Zealand taking on West Indies.

England and Australia will then lock horns the following day at Seddon Park in Hamilton. A total of 31 matches will be staged across 31 days, with the eight teams clashing to clinch the World Cup title.

According to ICC, Australia, England, South Africa and India qualified for the event on the basis of their position in ICC Women’s Championship 2017-20 while New Zealand automatically qualified as they were hosts.

Check the full schedule of ICC women’s World Cup 2022 here…

Eight of the world's best converge on New Zealand for #CWC22!

Who will lift the trophy on April 3?

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— Cricket World Cup (@cricketworldcup) December 15, 2021

The mega event will be played in the league format, where all eight nations will face each other once, at the end of which the top four teams will qualify for the semi-finals.

The first semi-final of the World Cup will be played at The Basin Reserve in Wellington on March 30 while The Hagley Oval will staged the second semi-final on March 31. The finals of the tournament will played on April 3. Both the semi-finals and the finals will have a reserve day in place as per ICC.

The tournament will also mark the return of the women's global event since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The last global women's event played was the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in Australia in March 2020, which the hosts won by beating India in the final.

(with ANI inputs)