ICC splits points: India Qualifies for ICC Women’s World Cup 2021

The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Wednesday announced that the Indian Women’s Cricket team has sealed a direct birth in the Women’s World Cup 2021. This announcement was followed by ICC’s Technical Committee’s decision to split the points as the ICC Women’s Championship against Pakistan scheduled for July and November 2019, wasn’t conducted.

"With respect to the India v Pakistan series, the TC (Technical Committee) concluded that the series could not be played because of a Force Majeure event after the 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 ICC Women's Championship," the ICC said in a media release on Wednesday.

Apart from the India v Pakistan series; South Africa v Australia and Sri Lanka v New Zealand series have not been held due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Hence, the ICC decided to split the points.

India and Pakistan, each was awarded 3 points, because of which India qualified for the Women’s World Cup 2021, with 23 points. India is behind South Africa (25 points), England (29 points), and Australia (37 points).

Pakistan, however with 19 points is to compete in the qualifier along with New Zealand (17 points), West Indies (13 points), and Sri Lanka (5 points). The other teams competing in the qualifier are Bangladesh and Ireland since they hold the ODI status and the winners of the five regional qualifying tournaments, Thailand, Zimbabwe, Papua New Guinea, USA, and the Netherlands. The Qualifier is scheduled to take place in Sri Lanka. According to the ICC, the dates are “under review” due to the pandemic.