ICC ODI World Cup 2023’s full schedule has not even been officially announced but already much has been said and written about the tournament.
India will be hosting the mega event in October. Recently, the Pakistan Cricket Board requested the International Cricket Council and the Board of Control for Cricket India to change the venue of their games. Earlier, former PCB chairman Ramiz Raza had also expressed his wish for Pakistan not to travel to India for the ODI World Cup 2023. This statement was made after the BCCI made it clear that the Indian team will not travel to the neighbouring country for the next edition of the Asia Cup. While speaking on his YouTube channel, Ravichandran Ashwin expressed his views on PCB’s venue-changing request.
Ravichandran Ashwin: ICC unlikely to pay heed to the request
Ravichandran Ashwin broke his silence on the PCB’s request to change the venue and said that the International Cricket Council would not agree to Pakistan’s request. The veteran Indian spinner said that given the nature of the reason, ICC is unlikely to pay heed to the request. He also added that only if Pakistan cited security reasons, then maybe they had a chance of getting the venue swapped.
For the unversed, something similar had happened during the 2016 T20 World. The India vs Pakistan encounter was shifted from Dharamshala to Kolkata. Ashwin further said that PCB has mentioned in their request letter that conditions will favour Afghanistan in Chennai. Hence, now the changing of venue also indicates that it plays into an advantage for Pakistan.
Pakistan, in their request letter itself, have mentioned that conditions will favor Afghanistan in Chennai. So, by changing venues, it plays into an advantage for Pakistan. So, I highly doubt that ICC will heed to this request. Maybe if Pakistan have given some valid security reasons, then it might be shifted,” Ashwin said.
ICC ODI World Cup 2023: Pakistan’s schedule
The official schedule for the World Cup mega event is not out yet. The International Cricket Council is expected to make the official announcement on June 27. This means that the fixture schedule will be out exactly 100 days before the start of the tournament.
If reports are to be believed then, Pakistan will kickstart their campaign against Australia. The match may be played at Bengaluru’s Chinnaswamy Stadium on October 20, followed by Pakistan vs Afghanistan at Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, three days later. PCB has requested a venue swap for these two matches.