Schedule: India’s home series against West Indies and Ireland Women Announced

India recently triumphed over New Zealand 2-1 in an ODI series in Ahmedabad and are set to tour Australia for 3 ODIs in early December, all aimed at an intense preparation for the 2025 World Cup. India will then face West Indies in a series of 3 Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) in Navi Mumbai on December 15, 17, and 19, and ODIs in Vadodara on December 22, 24, and 27.

The ODI series is part of the International Cricket Council (ICC) Women’s Championship 2022-23/25, which will determine the top 5 teams, alongside hosts India, that qualify directly for the 2025 World Cup. For the West Indies, currently seeded 8th with 14 points, this series against India is crucial as they aim to climb the rankings and stay in contention for direct qualification.

India and West Indies last played a bilateral series in 2019 in the Caribbean, while the West Indies’ most recent white-ball series in India dates back to 2016, when they whitewashed India 3-0 in the T20I series but were themselves whitewashed 3-0 in the ODIs. Notably, for this upcoming ODI series, India will return to Vadodara for the first time since 2019.

Head-to-head, in T20Is, India has won 13 out of 21 matches against the West Indies, while the West Indies have won 8. India’s dominance extends to the ODIs as well, where they have won 21 out of 26 games, suffering only 5 losses.

Following the West Indies series, India and Ireland will face off in their first-ever bilateral series in India. The two sides will meet in an ODI for the first time since 2017, when India had a memorable outing. Deepti Sharma scored her highest international score of 188, which remains the highest individual score by an Indian in WODIs. She shared a record 320-run opening partnership with Punam Raut, who scored her maiden ODI century (109 off 116), as India went on to post a total of 358, their highest team score in WODIs to date, and won the game by 249 runs, their biggest margin of victory by runs.

Ireland will be chasing history in their historic first-ever away bilateral series against India with a maiden win, having lost all their 12 ODIs to date, as well as both T20Is. Notably, India returns to Rajkot for the first time since 2014, with the 3 ODIs against Ireland scheduled for January 10, 12, and 15. This ODI series is also part of the ICC Women’s Championship, and Ireland are seeded at the bottom (10th), with just 3 wins and 8 points. Nonetheless, fresh off a win against England and a series in Bangladesh in November – December 2024, Ireland will look to punch above their weight.