India Women to play all New Zealand matches in Queenstown to reduce COVID-19 threat

The Indian women’s team will play all six white-ball matches against New Zealand in Queenstown to reduce the chances of a COVID-19 outbreak.

The Indian women’s team, already in New Zealand, is now scheduled to play all five ODIs and a T20I, starting February 9 at John Davies Oval in Queenstown.

The Indian women’s team will play all six white-ball matches against New Zealand in Queenstown to reduce the chances of a COVID-19 outbreak.

The Indian women’s team, already in New Zealand, is now scheduled to play all five ODIs and a T20I, starting February 9 at John Davies Oval in Queenstown.

The bilateral series, ahead of the 50-over World Cup in March-April, was earlier scheduled to start with the one-off T20I at McLean Park in Napier, followed by the first ODI at the same venue two days later.

 

The Saxton Oval in Nelson was to host the second and third ODIs on February 14 and 16, with the final two ODIs in Queenstown on February 22 and 24.

“These risk mitigations are based on avoiding known Covid-19 hotspots and include limiting air travel, limiting accommodation transfers and, essentially, operating in safer environments,” NZC chief executive David White said in a statement.

“We know the more domestic flights we have, and the more movement there is between hotels, the greater the chance of a match or even a series being put at risk,” he added.

The two teams last squared off against each other in a bilateral series in January-February 2019, when New Zealand hosted India for six limited-overs games. India clinched the ODI series 2-1 while New Zealand handed it a 3-0 sweep in the T20Is.