PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf to push for Pakistan to play ODI WC games at neutral venues during ICC meeting
PCB chairman to push for Pakistan to play ODI WC games at neutral venues
The drama regarding Pakistan's participation in the forthcoming ICC ODI World Cup 2023 is far from over. Anupcoming ICC meeting is set to take place in Durban, South Africa and the new chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Zaka Ashraf, is keen to push for the Babar Azam-led Men in Green to play their World Cup games at neutral venues. It is mainly because India didn't agree to travel to Pakistan for this year's Asia Cupto be held in August-September.
'Want neutral venues if India doesn’t want to send its team to Pakistan for Asia Cup'
“Zaka Ashraf will bring up the issue of why can’t Pakistan’s matches in the World Cup be played at neutral venues when the Indian team can’t travel to Pakistan for the Asia Cup. I want our World Cup matches at neutral venues if India doesn’t want to send its team to Pakistan for Asia Cup. If they have security problems in Pakistan according to the Indian board, then we can also question the security situation in India,” said Ahsan Mazari as quoted by PTI.
Pakistan's participation in the 50-over showpiece event has become a huge talking point. Thefinal decisionwill be taken by theirgovernment. However, there is no end to the drama between PCB and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). While the Indian cricket board made it clear that they won't send their team to Pakistan for this year's Asia Cup, the tournament's future was under dark clouds before a hybrid model came up, with the India games -- including their marquee clash versus Pakistan -- to be held in Sri Lanka.
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Only four matchesof the Asia Cup 2023 edition will take place in Pakistan, allowing Babar & Co.to take the field in front of their home fans only once. Thus, this has not been well received by the PCB, whereas their demands with regard to the venue changes for the ODI World Cup havealso not been entertained.
Thus, Ashraf aims to push Pakistan's ODI WC games to be played at neutral venues and not in India. As of now, the 1992 champions areset to play their nine league-stage games in five different venuesin India.
Pakistan's schedule at CWC' 23
October 6: Pakistan vs Netherlands, Hyderabad
October 12: Pakistan vs Sri Lanka, Hyderabad
October 15: Pakistan vs India, Ahmedabad
October 20: Pakistan vs Australia, Bengaluru
October 23: Pakistan vs Afghanistan, Chennai
October 27: Pakistan vs South Africa, Chennai
October 31: Pakistan vs Bangladesh, Kolkata
November 4: Pakistan vs New Zealand, Bengaluru
November 12: Pakistan vs England, Kolkata
It remains to be seen if there will be any change with regard to the Asia Cup whereas Pakistan's participation in the ODI WC is also subject to clearance by their government.
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