- August 14, 2025
If you’re blinking or not paying attention, then you missed the Women’s World Cup (Sept 30 – Nov 2) just threw us a curveball with the venue. Bengaluru, which was supposed to host the opening and a knockout night, is now off the list of venues. Thiruvananthapuram appears to be the likely contender to stand in. The cricket is unchanged, but the logistics, environment, and fan journey are not. Here is what the move means for you without the corporate malarkey. While confirmation is coming very soon, the writing on the wall has started today.
How did Bengaluru fall off the map?
Two factors came into play: safety and time. Following the tragic June 4 crowd crush associated with RCB’s title celebration, Karnataka authorities began to restrict permissions for mass events. The KSCA couldn’t secure permissions within an extended window, and with the countdown to an event at 50 days, the ICC and BCCI had to act. Result: the Chinnaswamy slate-opener included – has been withdrawn pending a formal announcement, and the city’s league games and a knockout were also redistributed.
Why Thiruvananthapuram makes sense
Greenfield has all the box-ticking components: contemporary bowl, tidy ingress/egress, and a city accustomed to dealing with big sporting nights. It’s also conveniently connected to Colombo, which matters because Pakistan’s games will be locked to a neutral venue there. From a cricketing/match experience standpoint, Greenfield has the outfield and sightlines for white-ball evenings, and Kerala crowds bring the sort of noise that global tournaments deserve. In terms of weather, late September to October will likely be kinder in the deep south than in other northern pockets – especially helpful in an overcrowded schedule, where evening starts are concerned.
What changes for fans, teams, and the schedule
Practically, pencil adjustments morph into plan modifications. The ICC’s original schedule had India–Sri Lanka opening on September 30 in Bengaluru, with England–South Africa on October 3 also in Bengaluru, and India–Bangladesh on October 26, into the semifinals. Move those to Thiruvananthapuram, and it’s the same story. It’s the same trip as they already fly back and forth between Indore, Guwahati, Visakhapatnam, and Colombo—Greenfield changes in and no change in the continuum. A simple, neat, ICC-style advisory revision will come out with new tickets, gates, and practice slots.
The bigger picture: Bengaluru’s cricket calendar
This is more than just a tournament. With the Maharaja Trophy moving to Mysuru and a scrutinized focus on safety, the stock of Bengaluru as a host venue for the short term is now shaky. This impacts the optics of not just warm-ups, bilateral windows, but even franchise plans. A clear and timely plan to remediate Chinnaswamy Stadium, with prescribed safety for patron crowd flow, access gates, exit routes, and policing on match days, will determine how quickly this city is in the primary host destination line-up. Bengaluru will be back; it will be a question of how quickly it can establish match-night operational readiness to both regulators and fans.
Stadiums are like stages; performances continue. If Thiruvananthapuram is confirmed, fans get a cosmopolitan coastal venue without losing key matchups. Bengaluru gets to reset a bit while maintaining trust. Opening night with India–Sri Lanka and the festival occasions with the later heavyweight matchups are still about top edges, yorkers, and nerves; just different floodlights.
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