The tournament was originally scheduled to be held in 2020 but was postponed to 2022 owing to the Covid-19 pandemic. It will be held across six venues. England are the defending champions of the tournament.

India’s campaign begins the blockbuster clash against Pakistan at the Bay Oval in Tauranga, with a total of 31 matches scheduled to be held among the eight teams from March to April 2022. The final will be played on April 3, 2022.

According to ICC’s rules for the tournament, a team can participate even if the side is reduced to nine players if Covid-19 affects a squad.

India were runners-up in the last edition in 2017, and also reached the final in the 2005 edition. The tournament is likely to act as the swansong for India veterans Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami. Leading up to the tournament, India have lost their last four bilateral series, suffering defeats against South Africa, England, Australia and New Zealand.

India schedule: Full list of fixtures for Women’s World Cup 2022

India will play two warm-up matches, against South Africa and West Indies.

March 6 – v Pakistan
March 10 – v New Zealand
March 12 – v West Indies
March 16 – v England
March 19 – v Australia
March 22 – v Bangladesh
March 28 – v South Africa

India squad for Women’s World Cup 2022: Full team list

India squad

Mithali Raj (c), Harmanpreet Kaur (vc), Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Yastika Bhatia, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (wk), Sneh Rana, Jhulan Goswami, Pooja Vastrakar, Meghna Singh, Renuka Singh Thakur, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Poonam Yadav.

Reserve players

Sabbhineni Meghana, Ekta Bisht, Simran Dil Bahadur.