-Women in Blue- ready to play Test format after 6 years! On Monday, Jay Shah, general secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, posted on social media: "On the occasion of International Women's Day I'm pleased to announce that #TeamIndia @BCCIWomen will play a one-off Test match against @ECB_cricket later this year. The women in blue will be donning the whites again." The tour will feature Twenty20 matches and one-day internationals.
England and India will play a women's Test match as part of a multi-format series between the two countries. India has not played a women's Test match since they beat South Africa in 2014. India will likely follow a similar multi-format points system used in the recent Women's Ashes series of the 2019 edition.
The tour announcement came on the same day that the International Cricket Council confirmed two teams will be added to both the one-day and Twenty20 Women's World Cups from 2026 to expand the game. The four past T20 World Cups have featured 10 teams, will rise to 12 from 2026, while the 50-over tournament in 2029 will increase from eight teams to 10. The ICC is creating two six-team women's T20 Champions Cups to be included in 2027 and 2031.
Indian men's Cricket Team is playing the T20 series from Friday. According to 'the Guardian' article, BCCI president, Sourav Ganguly, has said: "the final of the men's World Test Championship will be staged in Southampton, with India, who secured their place with the 3-1 series win over England, due to meet New Zealand from 18 June."
Ageas Bowl succeeded in creating a biosecure bubble for England's games last year and made it as the ICC's preferred location. Therefore, the original plan to conduct a showpiece one-off Test match at Lord's was ruled out as the host venue.