Zimbabwe’s first tour of India, and the first time these two sides have ever met in women’s international cricket. Three T20Is in Raipur, three ODIs in Vadodara — full schedule, timings, venues and what is at stake.
India and Zimbabwe have never played each other in women’s international cricket. In a sport where the leading nations have met hundreds of times, a genuine first meeting is rare, and it is the headline fact of this tour. It is also Zimbabwe’s first visit to India for a women’s bilateral series.
For India there is a second layer: these are their first home ODIs since winning the Women’s Cricket World Cup in November 2025, and the three matches in Vadodara form part of the ICC Women’s Championship — the competition that decides direct qualification for the next 50-over World Cup. Points here carry beyond the tour itself.
For Zimbabwe it is a development step. They sit sixteenth in the ODI rankings on a rating of 16 and twelfth in the T20I list on 121, against India’s 124 and 264. On paper one of the widest gaps on the calendar this year — which is precisely what makes it valuable, because the ICC system rewards beating higher-ranked opposition disproportionately.
Difficult. They toured Pakistan in May for their first-ever series there and lost both the ODIs and the T20Is 3–0, with Pakistan’s Gull Feroza and Ayesha Zafar taking the player-of-the-series awards.
Their last series win of note came against the United States, beaten 3–2 in a five-match ODI series at home in late 2024, with captain Josephine Nkomo named player of the series. Nkomo still leads the side, and six matches against the World Cup holders is more top-level cricket than Zimbabwe usually get in a season.
Depth rather than results. India have a busy cycle ahead, including a tour of South Africa from December, and a home series against lower-ranked opposition is the natural place to look at fringe players, rotate bowlers and settle a batting order.
The venues matter too. The T20Is are at Raipur under lights from 7:00pm; the Vadodara ODIs are day/night fixtures from 2:00pm. Dew is likely to be a factor in the second innings of both, so the toss may count for more than the ranking gap suggests.
Timings above are in Indian Standard Time, with Pakistan time and GMT given for the opening fixture of each series. All six matches are in India, so the T20Is start in the evening across South Asia and the ODIs in the early afternoon.
Results and margins are added to our results page as each match finishes, current series are listed in the match centre, and the effect on both sides shows in the ICC rankings. Reports go to news.
Neither board had confirmed its squad at the time of writing. Squad lists will be added here once India and Zimbabwe announce them.