Lahore, Oct 23 Pakistan will look to host all matches of the 2028 Women’s T20 World Cup with the United Arab Emirates being considered as the venue to host matches involving India.
The ICC announced on Friday that the 12-team tournament will be organised from September 7 to October 1 with Pakistan as the main hosts, but it has yet to decide on the neutral venue for India’s matches.
Pakistan and India follow a two-way hybrid model under which whenever either country hosts an ICC or an Asian event, the other team plays its matches at a designated neutral venue.
The process has been followed since the 2025 Champions Trophy, which was hosted by Pakistan.
India played all its Champions Trophy games in the UAE and won the final in Dubai with Pakistan hosting 10 out of the 15 matches, including one semifinal in Lahore in which India didn’t feature.
An official source in the Pakistan Cricket Board said they were ready to host the Women’s T20 World Cup but would push the ICC to follow the same formula as was executed in the Champions Trophy.
“We would like to host matches of both groups and the knockout matches where the Indian team is not involved,” he said.
“UAE will probably be the neutral venue of choice for everyone because the travel between Pakistan and Dubai is short, and logistics becomes less expensive and easier to handle,” he added.
India, being among the top-ranked women’s teams in the world, would be favourites to make the knockout stage. But if they don’t qualify for the final, it would be held in Lahore, the source added.
The countries which an ICC event get a hosting fee from the global governing body, besides receiving funds to manage other expenses of the tournament.
The source said the Women’s T20 World Cup would definitely boost the portfolio of women’s cricket in Pakistan, which had the talent to make a strong side for the ICC event two years from now.
The 20-team men’s T20 World Cup, meanwhile, is scheduled to take place from October 12 to November 12 in Australia and New Zealand.
(PTI News)
