India, the host of the 2023 ODI World Cup, will play at nine of the 10 venues in the league stage, beginning its campaign against Australia in Chennai on October 8.
The Rohit Sharma-led team will travel to New Delhi to face Afghanistan three days later before heading to Ahmedabad for the marquee clash against Pakistan on October 15.
On Tuesday, the International Cricket Council announced the fixtures for the quadrennial event, allotting the 45 league matches and the three knockouts to Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Dharamshala, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, and Pune over 46 days.
READ |ICC ODI World Cup 2023 schedule: Full list of matches, dates, venues, timings
While Hyderabad is the only centre missing out on an India game, the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium may host one of India’s warm-up games leading up to the main tournament.
Pakistan, however, will play a couple of its group league fixtures at the Uppal Stadium. Thiruvananthapuram and Guwahati will also host the warm-up games between September 29 and October 3.
The two semifinals will be played in Kolkata and Mumbai. If Pakistan qualifies for the semifinal, it will play in Kolkata. However, if India makes it to the last four, it will play in Mumbai unless it is playing Pakistan, in which case it will play in Kolkata.
The two semifinals and the final will all have reserve days, and according to sources, the six day league matches in the tournament will start at 10:30 a.m. IST, while the other matches will be day-night games starting at 2:00 p.m. IST.
HIGHLIGHTS | World Cup schedule announced
Australia plays in eight centres
After announcing the much-delayed fixtures, just 100 days before the start of the tournament, the ICC also made sure that most teams, barring Pakistan, played their nine league matches across most of the 10 venues. While Pakistan is playing in Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, and Kolkata, teams like Australia are travelling to eight centres around the country.
The format will remain the same as in 2019, with 10 sides facing each other once in the league phase and the top four qualifying for the semifinals. While India qualified as host, Afghanistan, Australia, England, Bangladesh, New Zealand, Pakistan, and South Africa have made it by finishing in the top eight of the World Cup Super League. The remaining two teams will be selected from ongoing World Cup qualifiers in Zimbabwe.
PCB awaiting government clearance
Though the ICC announced the fixture and BCCI secretary Jay Shah stated that the tournament in India will end debates on the future of ODI cricket, there is still uncertainty over Pakistan’s participation. “The PCB requires the Government of Pakistan’s clearance for any tour to India, including the match venues. We are liaising with our government for guidance, and as soon as we hear something from them, we will update the Event Authority (ICC). This position is consistent with what we told the ICC a couple of weeks ago when they shared with us the draft schedule and sought our feedback,” said a PCB spokesperson.
A couple of weeks ago, the Pakistan Cricket Board’s proposal of a hybrid model was accepted by the Asian Cricket Council for the Asia Cup; however, now, with a possible change in leadership at the PCB, their future course of action needs to be seen.
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