ICC ODI WC: India vs Pakistan on October 15, Final in Ahmedabad as per draft schedule - Report

India will face Pakistan on October 15 in the upcoming ICC ODI World Cup in Ahmedabad with England vs New Zealand game set to kick off the quadrennial tournament from October 5. India, the host country for the ODI WC, will start their campaign against Australia on October 8, as per the draft prepared by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

The developments were reported by ESPNCricinfo, which also said that the BCCI shared the draft with the ICC which then forwarded the schedule to rest of the countries to have a look before the final schedule is out. The confirmation about the World Cup schedule is expected as early as next week, the report further stated.

As per the report, India will play their matches across nine venues during the league phase and here's their itinerary:

The draft, shared by the BCCI, has picked Ahmedabad as the venue for the final, to be played on November 19, but none for the semi-finals as of now which are expected to be played on November 15 and 16.

Unprecedented delay in announcing schedule

Notably, never in the history of the marquee tournament has there been such delay in announcing the schedule. The same for the last two editions was announced one year in advance. BCCI secretary Jay Shah, on May 27, had said that the schedule would be announced during the World Test Championship (WTC) Final. ICC CEO Geoff Allardice too, on the first day of WTC Final, had said that the schedule would be announced 'anytime soon,' while speaking on BBC's Test Match Special. Nonetheless, the schedule seems all but certainty now with draft being out.

Pakistan set to play at five venues

Apart from their clash against India, Pakistan will face two qualifier teams on October 6 and 12 in Hyderabad before facing Australia in Bengaluru on October 20. Pakistan, who had earlier threatened to boycott over Asia Cup hosting, will then be facing Afghanistan and South Africa in Chennai on October 23 and 27, respectively. The final three matches of Asia Cup hosts are set to be played in Kolkata on October 31, Bengaluru on November 5 and Kolkata again on November 12 against Bangladesh, New Zealand and England, respectively.

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