Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games: India to play Australia in cricket opener

India will play Australia in the women's T20 cricket opener at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games on July 29. The cricket leg of the multi-sport event will take place between July 29 and August 7, with all matches played at the Edgbaston Stadium.

According to a statement on the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) website, Australia and India will play the tournament opener in the early session. Pakistan will take on Barbados later in the day, with the latter confirmed as the team from the West Indies.

Hosts England will open against a qualifier on July 30

India will play arch-rivals Pakistan on July 31, while hosts England will take on the winner of the qualifying tournament on July 30. Apart from the aforementioned teams, New Zealand and South Africa are the other direct qualifiers, while the final team will be known at the end of January 2022 after the qualifying tournament is completed.

The schedule for the netball event was also announced. Matt Kidson, Director of Sport for Birmingham 2022, spoke about the quick sale of tickets for both cricket and netball.

Kidson said:

“Not surprisingly we have already sold thousands of tickets for both the netball and cricket T20 sessions through our ticket ballots, but we know that some fans have been waiting to find out the details of the match schedules before choosing which sessions they want to attend, so we’re expecting these sports to sell quickly, when ticket sales go live. If there are netball and cricket fans who haven’t yet set up their ticketing account, then now would be a great time to do so, as tickets will be sold on a first come, first served basis, once the general sale begins.”

"Tremendous growth of the women's game over the past few years" - ICC Acting Chief Executive on Birmingham 2022

ICC Acting Chief Executive Geoff Allardice expects Birmingham 2022 to be another major moment in women's cricket.

“We have seen tremendous growth of the women’s game over the past few years and the Commonwealth Games will undoubtedly be another major moment on that journey. Today’s announcement of the match schedule gives fans lots to look forward to, not least with the opening game between ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020 finalists Australia and India and we know that Edgbaston will provide a great stage for the competition," Allardice said.

Allardice thanked the Commonwealth Games Federation for their support, saying:

“On behalf of the ICC and our Members, I would like to thank the Commonwealth Games Federation for all the support and look forward to some exciting cricket in Birmingham 2022.”

T20 cricket to debut at the Commonwealth Games 2022

The 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham will mark the debut of T20 cricket as well as women's cricket in the multi-sport event.

Edgbaston will host all the women's T20 matches of the 2022 Commonwealth Games

Cricket has been played before at the Commonwealth Games, with the men's 50-over competition held in the 1998 edition of the quadrennial extravaganza in Kuala Lumpur. South Africa won gold, Australia took silver and New Zealand collected bronze.