India Women's T20I Series Against West Indies Before World T20 Called Off

India women team’s hopes of getting some much-needed match practise before the upcoming ICC Women’s World T20 has ended as their scheduled bilateral T20I series against West Indies has been called off.

The board of the two countries were yet to formally announce the schedule of the proposed three-match series. However, Cricbuzz has reported that some financial constraints compelled West Indies to call off the series. The talk of the series had started in July this year. BCCI had put forward a proposal according to which India were set to travel to the Caribbeans early for the series. The series was set to be played in the last week of October just before the ICC Women’s World T20.

But with the series not being a part of the ICC Women’s Championship structure, where West Indies are due to host India in the 2017-20 cycle, neither of the boards had formally made an announcement.

Now the players from both the sides will train in Antigua before the upcoming tournament.

“CWI & BCCI were hoping to schedule three International T20s in St. Kitts ahead of the Women’s World T20, as part of our respective preparation plans. As the series was not part of any bilateral future tours programme, CWI has been discussing the financials with the BCCI and unfortunately the matches will now not be taking place,” CWI told Cricbuzz. “Both teams will instead be training in Antigua before the ICC preparation period begins.”

The series-cancellation will be a big blow for India. The Women in Blue have failed to make it past the group stages in each of the last three editions of the competition. A series just before the ICC Women’s World T20 would have given the players some more time to get accustomed to conditions and do well in the main event.

Among the current players, only four – Harmanpreet Kaur, Mithali Raj, Veda Krishnamurthy and Ekta Bisht – have played in the Caribbeans before. That series, however, had also taken place way back in 2012.

India will now be looking to get the practise during the two warm-up games before the tournament. India will take on West Indies and England in the warm-up ties.

Prior to that, they will have a 10-day conditioning camp in Mumbai, before leaving for the Caribbean on October 27.

India will kickstart their campaign against New Zealand on November 9.