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The bugle for the 2023 World Cup has been sounded. Marking the 100 day countdown for the marquee event, the ICC on Tuesday released the fixtures for the event. While the event will begin on October 5, the final will be played on November 19. India will be playing its first match against Australia on October 8 while the much-awaited clash against Pakistan is on October 15 in Ahmedabad.
As part of the announcement in Mumbai, it was confirmed that Pakistan will also take on Australia (in Bengaluru on October 20) and Afghanistan (in Chennai on October 23). According to a PTI report, PCB did not want to play Afghanistan on a spin-friendly track in Chennai and also wanted to avoid facing Australia in Benglauru.
Soon after the announcement, the PCB made it clear that its participation in the ODI World Cup will be subject to government clearance. “Our participation in the World Cup and us playing in Ahmedabad on October 15 or in Mumbai if we qualify for semi-finals will all be dependent on government clearance,” a PCB official was quoted as saying by the PTI.
The PCB official said the government has not yet issued any NOC to the board to travel to India and since it was a sensitive issue, the Board can only move forward after getting clear directives from its government.
“We have already informed the ICC that our participation in the tournament or any issues over venues is linked to firstly the PCB getting clearance from the government to travel to India,” the official said.
However, Pakistan pace great Wasim Akram has said that he thinks the players of the cricket team are not bothered about the venues.
“There is no issue here. Wherever the match will be held, Pakistan will have to play there. End of conversation. It is just an unnecessary stress when it comes to this conversation over venues. If you ask any Pakistan cricketer, they don’t care. They will play wherever the schedule will come,” Wasim Akram told reporters in a video posted by Cricket Pakistan.
Pakistan have a signed participation agreement to compete and the world governing body “100% expects them to be there and has had no indications to the contrary”.
“All members have to abide by the rules and the laws of their country and we respect that. But we’re confident Pakistan will be in India for the men’s cricket World Cup,” an ICC spokesperson told PTI.
With PTI inputs
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