Chennai to host India, South Africa women’s Test

BENGALURU: India will play host to South Africa women’s team for one Test, three ODIs and three T20Is across June and July.

The one-dayers and T20Is will be played in Bengaluru, a Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) official informed, while the Test match will be played at Chennai.

The ODIs will be held at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium from June 16, while the one-off Test will start at the MA Chidambaram Stadium from June 28.

The teams will then return to Bengaluru for the T20Is on July 5, 7 and 9 and they will precede the women’s T20 World Cup to be played in Bangladesh in September-October. The white-ball format matches were originally a part of the ICC Future Tours Programme (FTP) in late 2023, but they had to be pushed ahead because of the 50-over ICC Men’s World Cup held in India last year between October and November.

However, the Test match is an addition to the fixture and a part of the initiative by BCCI and Cricket South Africa (CSA) to give more impetus to women’s cricket in the traditional format.

It may be recalled that India had played a Test each against England and Australia at Mumbai in December last year.

India had beaten England by a huge 347 runs, the largest in women’s Test cricket, and Australia by eight wickets in those matches.