India to face Pakistan in Women’s T20 WC campaign opener:ICC announces schedule, tournament starts on 12 June

The Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 schedule has been announced by the International Cricket Council (ICC) on 24 February. The tournament, which will be hosted by England, will start on 12 June and come to an end on 5 July. The final will be played at the iconic Lord’s Cricket Ground. India are set to begin their Women’s T20 World Cup campaign against Pakistan on 14 June at Edgbaston. Hosts England will take on Sri Lanka on the opening day. This will be the 10th edition of the tournament involving 12 teams that will fight it out for the title. New Zealand are the defending champions in the tournament, having beaten South Africa in the last edition’s final. ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 schedule Harmanpreet Kaur and her team will take on arch-rivals in their first match of the campaign on 14 June. The last time India and Pakistan’s women’s teams had met each other in a T20I was at the last Women’s T20 World Cup, where the Women in Blue had emerged victorious, comfortably by a margin of six wickets, in Dubai. India and Pakistan have had 16 encounters in women’s T20Is so far. Out of the 16, India have won 13 matches while Pakistan have had three wins, the last of which came in 2022. The last four teams to qualify for the tournament were Bangladesh, Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands, who made it through to the tournament via the qualifiers in Nepal. Defending champions New Zealand will begin their title defense against 2016 winners West Indies on 13 June. Six-time champions Australia, on the other hand, will open their campaign against last season’s finalists on the same day. The Netherlands, on the other hand, will be making their ICC Women’s T20 World Cup debut and open their campaign against Bangladesh, who remained unbeaten in the qualifying tournament. “The release of the schedule for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 is an important milestone in the run-up to the global, premier sporting event,” ICC CEO Sanjog Gupta said. “This event is in continuation of ICC’s sustained investment in women’s Cricket – across expanded participation and high-performance pathways, event and production standards, tournament prize money, widened media distribution and commercial partnerships – towards the goal of commanding higher levels of attention, affiliation and stature with fans worldwide,” he said. “The ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup in India served as a force multiplier for the sport – breaking records, capturing imaginations and inspiring communities – and our ambition is to carry the momentum into the event in June-July,” Gupta added. ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 Groups Group 1: Australia, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Netherlands Group 2: West Indies, England, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Ireland, Scotland.