In the days leading up to the ICC ODI World Cup 2023, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Najam Sethi had made two requests to the BCCI and ICC regarding their venues for the World Cup games. After plenty of drama regarding the Asia Cup 2023, and alleging to boycott the ODI World Cup in India, the PCB finally agreed to participate in the 50 overs World Cup but they had certain conditions.
The PCB wanted to swap the venues for their games against Australia and Afghanistan. Turns out, their second condition was that they didn’t wanted to play matches in Mumbai, owing to security conditions.
While the ICC and BCCI rejected the first demand, it seems that PCB’s wish has been granted and ICC has announced a major plot twist if India meet Pakistan in the ODI World Cup semifinal which will take place in Mumbai.
The schedule and venues for the ICC ODI World Cup 2023 were announced on Tuesday, June 27 at an event in Mumbai as Rohit Sharma-led India will travel to nine cities throughout the nation as part of their fixtures, however, Babar Azam’s side will only play their matches in five venues, namely – Hyderabad, Chennai, Bengaluru, Kolkata and Ahmedabad.
The Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai is slated to host the first semifinal, and if India and Pakistan both qualify for the final four, their fixture will then be shifted to Kolkata, according to the schedule announced by the ICC.
In case Pakistan do not reach the final four, and Rohit Sharma’s men qualify for the semis, then their semifinal 1 match will proceed as planned in Mumbai.
There are two more conditions announced by the ICC, regarding West Indies and Sri Lanka who are participating in the World Cup qualifiers in Zimbabwe. If West Indies qualify for the marquee tournament, they will be referred to as Qualifier 1 irrespective of where they finished in the qualifying stage, similarly, if Sri Lanka reaches the ODI World Cup 2023, they will be referred to as Qualifier 2.
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