Pakistan’s 1992 World Cup win hero Wasim Akram says that the Men in Green players do not care about the venues where they play in the upcoming ICC World Cup 2023 in India and the stress of not playing at a particular venue is unnecessary.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had demanded to the ICC and the BCCI not have their marquee encounter against India in the World Cup 2023 at the Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad as they feared for their security.
The PCB also wanted ICC to swap the venues of their matches against Afghanistan in Chennai and against Australia in Bengaluru. The board said that Afghanistan has good spinners and it will be tough for them to counter them on the spin-friendly surface in Chennai.
“There’s no issue with it. Pakistan will play wherever they are assigned to play. Simple. This unnecessary stress of ‘we won’t play in Ahmedabad’…you ask Pakistani players, they don’t care wherever their schedule comes,” Akram told reporters.
Governments Will Speak To Each Other: Wasim Akram On PCB’s Stance Of Getting NOC From Pakistan Government After Schedule Announcement
Following the revelation of the draft schedule, the PCB requested a site change for the Australia and Afghanistan game from Chennai and Bangalore, which was rejected, as well as their refusal to play at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium because of security concerns.
The latter was taken into consideration, and while none of Pakistan’s league-stage matches will take place in Mumbai, the semifinal that was originally slated for that city would be changed to Eden Gardens in Kolkata if Pakistan advances to that round.
Meanwhile, after the schedule was announced on June 27, PCB stated that they still have to get the NOC and permission from the Pakistani government to travel to India.
Reacting to the same, Wasim Akram said: “I’m all for egos. If you have an ego and understand that what’s happening is wrong, then speak up. But again, move on then. Always plan it, always think if we can do it? Can we finish what we’ve planned to do? If we can’t, then don’t do this. It ends up becoming a cause for laughter. We’re all patriotic for our country. And they will be for their country. No doubt about it. But end of the day, it’s only a game. Governments will speak to each other, that’s their problem.”
Pakistan has been allotted five venues with them playing mostly in Hyderabad, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Chennai.