India to play Pakistan on opening day of women's Asia Cup after schedule tweak

The Asian Cricket Council [ACC] has tweaked the schedule of the women's Asia Cup 2024, and defending champions India will play Pakistan on July 19, the opening day of the tournament. Nepal and UAE will start the tournament off in the afternoon that day, with the India vs Pakistan game in the evening.

Those two games were originally slotted for July 21. In that schedule, Nepal and Pakistan were scheduled to play the opening game with India vs UAE in the second game. Those matches will now be held on July 21. The rest of the schedule remains the same.

The tournament will run from July 19 to 28 with all matches in Dambulla. It will be an eight-team affair this time, featuring one additional team from the previous year.

Unlike the last edition, where the teams played each other once before the semi-finals, this year they are split into two groups, A and B. Group A has India, Nepal, Pakistan and UAE, while Group B has hosts Sri Lanka along with Bangladesh, Malaysia and Thailand. The top two teams from each group will advance to the semi-finals, to be played on July 26. The final will be played on July 28.

The last edition of the women's Asia Cup was held in 2022 in Sylhet, where India defeated Sri Lanka in the final by a comfortable eight-wicket margin. India, with seven titles, are the most successful team in the tournament. After playing Pakistan and UAE on July 19 and 21, they will face Nepal on July 23. The only day game they play in the group stage of the tournament will be against UAE on July 21.

Like the last edition, the tournament this year will also feature an all-female team of umpires and match officials. The Asia Cup will be followed by the women's T20 World Cup 2024 in Bangladesh from October 3 to October 20.

Jul 19: Nepal vs UAE (2pm); India vs Pakistan (7pm)
Jul 20: Malaysia vs Thailand (2pm), Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh (7pm)
Jul 21: India vs UAE (2pm), Pakistan vs Nepal (7pm)
Jul 22: Sri Lanka vs Malaysia (2pm), Bangladesh vs Thailand (7pm)
Jul 23: Pakistan vs UAE (2pm), India vs Nepal (7pm)
Jul 24: Bangladesh vs Malaysia (2pm), Sri Lanka vs Thailand (7pm)
Jul 26: Semi-final 1 (2pm), Semi-final 2 (7pm)
Jul 28: Final (7pm)