India to host South Africa for multi-format women’s tour in June-July

NewsSouth Africa will play three ODIs, one Test and three T20Is in Bengaluru and Chennai

Harmanpreet Kaur led India to Test wins against England and Australia in December 2023  •  BCCI

India is set to host South Africa for a multi-format women’s tour in June-July. ESPNcricinfo has learnt Bengaluru will host the white-ball leg, beginning with three ODIs from June 16, while Chennai will host the one-off Test starting June 28.

The three T20Is will be played after the Test, with a view to ensure continuity in formats ahead of the T20 World Cup that is set to be held in Bangladesh in September-October. The ODIs will be played on June 16, 19 and 23, the T20Is on July 5, 7 and 9.

The six white-ball games were part of the ICC’s women’s FTP. Both series, along with a visit from New Zealand, were supposed to be played between July and September last year but had to be postponed due to the men’s ODI World Cup and logistics.

The one-off Test wasn’t part of the FTP. It was a late addition, as part of CSA and the BCCI’s recent push to promote women’s Tests.

This will be the third Test India will play in seven months, having played against England and Australia in December. Those two Tests came on the back of a significant development aimed at taking the “first step towards tackling discrimination” with the BCCI announcing equal match fees for centrally contracted male and female cricketers.

Meanwhile, South Africa, who broke their eight-year hiatus from the format when they played in England in June 2022, last played a four-day game in February in Perth, where they lost to Australia by an innings and 284 runs.

The tour is also a significant step in the BCCI’s aim to take women’s cricket to newer centres. For the past few years, the BCCI has preferred to host teams across multiple venues in Mumbai citing logistical reasons. They broke away from that norm with the WPL earlier this year, with games held in Bengaluru and Delhi.

The three ODIs are part of the ICC Women’s Championship, which will give direct qualifications to the top four teams, apart from the hosts, for the 2025 ODI World Cup, which will be held in India. South Africa are currently second on that table.

Shashank Kishore is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo