Mumbai, Sep 3 (IANS) The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is fully prepared to stage the inaugural ICC Women’s Champions Trophy at short notice after hosting rights were moved from Sri Lanka to India, said secretary Devajit Saikia on Thursday.

The six-team tournament, featuring Australia, England, India, New Zealand, South Africa, and Sri Lanka, will run from February 14 to 28 next year across two venues: the Cricket Club of India's Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai and the Vadodara International Cricket Stadium.

"Yes, you should appreciate the BCCI that we are going to host the Women's Champions Trophy in February next year. So we have two venues - one is the CCI Brabourne, which is next to this one, Wankhede Stadium.

“The other one is Baroda, and we should appreciate, and we should thank ICC, including Jay Shah, that they have thought that BCCI is the right country that can host the tournament at such short notice," Saikia told reporters following a performance review meeting at BCCI headquarters in Mumbai.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) relocated the event to India after stripping Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) of its hosting rights due to government interference in the national board's governance, following the appointment of a government-backed Transformation Committee.

India was selected as the replacement host ahead of competing bids from Bangladesh and South Africa. Despite losing the staging rights, Sri Lanka retained their place in the tournament after securing automatic qualification based on their global T20I ranking at the July 6 cut-off date.

"The BCCI is always ready to host these kinds of international events, and for that, the BCCI should get some credit that we are ready to accommodate any international event at any point in time.

“At the last moment, now at the 11th hour, Sri Lanka could not host this tournament. BCCI offered four venues, out of which two venues were selected, and we are going to host it in a very good manner," added Saikia.

The Brabourne Stadium last hosted international cricket in December 2022 during India women’s T20I series against Australia, though it staged Women's Premier League (WPL) matches in 2023 and 2025.

Vadodara has also emerged as a prominent venue after staging WPL fixtures in 2025 and 2026, apart from hosting India-West Indies women’s ODI series in 2024. The debut tournament will feature a single round-robin format before concluding with the final on February 28.

--IANS

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