The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) officials are in talks with ICC officials over their preferred venues in India for the Pakistan team to play their ICC World Cup 2023 matches. As per a PTI report, Pakistan wants its matches to be played in Chennai and Kolkata.
While the ICC World Cup 2023 begins on October 5 in India, the ICC’s Events committee, in association with the host cricket board BCCI, will chalk out the final itinerary in the next few months so that it allows fans across India and other parts to plan their travel itinerary.
Wasim Khan, ICC GM of Cricket and former PCB chief selector had told Pakistani media that the team could play its matches in Bangladesh as a part of a ‘hybrid model’ in reply to India not traveling to Pakistan for the Asia Cup 2023.
But PCB chairman Najam Sethi back then had rubbished the idea of playing World Cup games in Bangladesh. More so, ICC had made it clear that no such proposal had come from Pakistan about a ‘hybrid model’ for global tournaments.
Pakistan Will Like To Play Most Of Its World Cup Matches In Kolkata And Chennai- Report
The ICC World Cup 2023 will be played across 12 Indian cities, including Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Mumbai, Rajkot, Bengaluru, Delhi, Indore, Guwahati, and Hyderabad. And it has been reported that discussions are currently on at the ICC level as Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) bigwigs are in talks with a top-level ICC executive over Pakistan wanting to play its matches at specific venues.
“A lot will depend on what BCCI and the Indian government decide but given a choice, Pakistan will like to play most of its World Cup matches in Kolkata and Chennai. “In Kolkata, Pakistan played its T20 World Cup game against India in 2016 and the players were very happy with the security. Similarly, Chennai as a venue remains memorable for Pakistan. It’s also about feeling safe at specific venues,” a source close to ICC Board told PTI.
However, the fact that India vs Pakistan match gets the most eyeballs and revenue, the Narendra Modi Stadium with a capacity of 1,30,000 crowd will be the perfect venue for their high-voltage clash.
Each team will play nine games at the league stage which will be held in a round-robin format.