Produced by: Hitansh Gaur
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is gearing up for the upcoming ICC Men’s ODI World Cup. This is the first time that India will be hosting the tournament by itself and the schedule was announced last month. However, some changes are expected to be announced later today.
The highly awaited World Cup clash between India and Pakistan is expected to be moved up by a day to October 14, as per an India Today report. The group stage match was earlier scheduled for October 15 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
According to reports, last week the security agencies suggested BCCI to change the date of match to avoid its clash with the beginning of Navratri season. This was due to both events requiring a high level of security preparations and deployment.
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While the change of date might disrupt the schedule for fans, the excitement will still be high as India has a clear 7-0 record of wins against Pakistan in the ICC World Cup.
Secretary of BCCI, Jay Shah revealed that three Boards have requested for a change in the schedule as he said, “Three members have written to the ICC for a schedule change. Only the date and timings will be changed, venues will not be changed. If there is a six-day gap between games, we are trying to reduce it to 4-5 days. The picture will be clear in three-four days. Changes will happen in consultation with the ICC.”
The Pakistan Cricket Board is yet to announce their decision about whether they will come to India or not for the ICC tournament. Pakistan had threatened that they would not come for the tournament after the BCCI refused to send team India to Pakistan for this year’s Asia Cup tournament.
Other than the group stage of India against Pakistan, the Narendra Modi stadium is also the venue as the tournament kickstarts with the opening match between New Zealand and England. Later in the tournament, England will also face Australia at the same venue.
BCCI’s Selectors Committee are yet to announce the squad for the ICC World Cup. Here’s India’s probable 20-men WC squad: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav Ishan Kishan, Rishabh Pant, Kl Rahul, Sanju Samson, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik.
ICC Men’s ODI World Cup will culminate on November 19 with the 2023 World Cup Final also set to be played at the Narendra Modi Stadium.