The International Cricket Council (ICC) and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) all said no to the Pakistan Cricket Board‘s (PCB) request that a couple of matches in the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup be played in different places. India is where the 50-over World Cup will start in October. Reports say that the ICC and the BCCI met on Tuesday, June 20, and told the PCB about their decision.
The schedule for the event says that Pakistan will play Afghanistan in Chennai, where the pitch is good for spin, and Australia in Bengaluru. The pitch in Chennai is often good for spinners, so Pakistan has asked the international cricket board to move their games against Australia and Afghanistan to Chennai and Bengaluru, respectively.
But after the Pakistan analysts looked at the data about the sites, the PCB said it was willing to switch the places where the games would be played.
The game between India and Pakistan, two countries that hate each other very much, will be played at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. The former head of the PCB, Najam Sethi, had the same worries, but his request was also turned down.
Cricbuzz says that both the ICC and the BCCI have said that there is no good reason to change the locations. Notably, it is up to the hosts to choose the venue, and they had to get approval from the ICC to make any changes. Also, the site change can only be thought about if there are security problems.
During the 2016 ICC T20 World Cup, the place where the India vs. Pakistan game was played was changed. However, site changes have happened in the past. In 2016, the ICC T20 World Cup game between India and Pakistan had to be moved from Dharamsala to Kolkata because of safety worries.
The ICC and BCCI seem to have made the choice during a meeting that was mostly about business issues. The BCCI and the ICC have not yet announced the official schedule for the big game. Cricbuzz had said before that the first game of the event would be between England and New Zealand on October 5 in Ahmedabad.