New Delhi: India women's cricket team qualified for the Women's Cricket World Cup to be held next year in New Zealand between February 6 and March 7. The Indian eves booked their spot in the showpiece event after the cancellation of their ODI championship match against Pakistan following no government clearance received BCCI for the series.


It was slated to take place between July and November last year and now both teams shared points for the cancelled series.

India joined the hosts, Australia, England, and South Africa as the five teams who have earned a direct qualification berth for the tournament.

"With respect to the India vs Pakistan series, the TC 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," said the ICC in a statement.

"The India-Pakistan series was originally scheduled in the sixth round of the competition, between July and November 2019, but despite the best efforts of both the boards, it was unable to take place," it said.

"Australia (37 points), England (29), South Africa (25) and now India (23) have qualified by virtue of being the top four. Pakistan (19), New Zealand (17), West Indies (13) and Sri Lanka (5) complete the table," an ICC release said.

Meanwhile, two other ICC Women's Championship series have been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. South Africa were to host Australia and Sri Lanka were to host New Zealand in the last round of matches.

The ICC Women's Cricket World Cup Qualifier is scheduled to be played from July 3-19 in Sri Lanka, this is subject to review due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 10 teams vying for the three remaining places in the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup 2021 will be the hosts, Sri Lanka, along with Pakistan and West Indies from the ICC Women's Championship, the two other teams with ODI status, Bangladesh and Ireland, and the winners of the five regional qualifiers - Thailand (Asia), Zimbabwe (Africa), Papua New Guinea (East Asia Pacific), United States of America (Americas) and Netherlands (Europe).