While Men's Cricket Continue Indian Women's Tour Of Australia In January Postponed To Next Season

Indian women’s cricket team will now have to wait till next season to play in an international event. The three-match one-day international (ODI) series, originally scheduled to take place in January 2021, against the Australian team, has been postponed. Cricket Australia confirmed on Thursday that the matches will not be played until 2022 due to the new COVID-19 outbreaks in Sydney. These matches were to mark India's return to international cricket since the coronavirus-induced break earlier this year. The Indian team, which last played the T20 World Cup final in March, was to start the tour on the last week of January in Canberra, Melbourne and Hobart.

The three-match Commonwealth Bank ODI series between the Australian and Indian women’s teams originally scheduled for January 2021 will be postponed until next season, with plans to expand the tour to include an additional three Twenty20 Internationals. https://t.co/tU2WiFVcAM

— Cricket Australia (@CricketAus) December 31, 2020

Now, India's women cricketers, runners-up in the last ODI and T20 World Cups, will not play any games for ten-long months. The team played its last match in the T20 World Cup final on March 8, 2020.

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"We are very hopeful of delivering an expanded schedule between the Australian and Indian women's teams for next season, which would be an outstanding result for fans in both countries," Nick Hockley, Australia's interim CEO said in a statement. She added, "We had initially hoped to play India this summer, however the impact of the global pandemic made it necessary to postpone until next season."

"It will be wonderful to once again host the Indian women's team, who were centre stage for that unforgettable ICC T20 World Cup final at the MCG in March, and to do so with an expanded schedule from what was originally planned," the governing body head added.

Earlier this year, the Indian cricketers directly qualified for the Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022, which has also been pushed to March-April due to the pandemic and will include three T20Is.

However, former cricketer turned commentator Akash Chopra has pointed out on Twitter and rightly so;

How does one justify this? Men’s cricket is happening right now but women can’t play. Gender equality, anyone? pic.twitter.com/78e3Fey1Ht

— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) December 31, 2020

Views expressed are the author's own.

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Feature Image Credit: New Indian Express

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