Forfeiting Pakistan matches could prevent Indian eves from directly qualifying in World Cup 2021

ICC Women’s World Championship has been designed to be the roadmap for all the teams to qualify for the ICC Women’s World Cup 2021 in New Zealand. India have already placed themselves in the third position above Pakistan, with both having six points although the former is having better net run-rate. 

However, owing to the long-standing poor political relations between the two neighbouring countries that has resulted in the bilateral cricketing ties remaining a standstill, India have refused to play Pakistan in the World Championship matches. This would mean that India have to complete the tournament with 12 points while Pakistan would receive 4 points and progress ahead of their neighbours for the forfeited match. 

Australia are already in a commanding position with 8 wins from just 9 matches and would be highly hopeful of being in the  top 4 teams from the World Championship that would be heading to the World Cup along with New Zealand. If New Zealand are among the top four, then the top five teams would directly qualify for the World Cup. The remaining teams would be put to test in a qualifying event with the other teams and four teams from the qualifiers would take part in the World Cup.

The ICC World Championship would be taking place in a round-robin format wherein each team would play every other team in the lot, twice. It would be important to notice how the BCCI is handling the present situation as it would be important for the women’s cricket team to directly qualify given its calibre.