Even as the International Cricket Council (ICC) finalises the fixture list for the World Cup to be held in India in October-November, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has admitted that the final decision on where they play their matches rests with the Pakistan government.
A draft of the proposed schedule seen by RevSportz had Pakistan starting the tournament with two matches in Hyderabad, before they moved to Ahmedabad to play India in the competition’s marquee clash. Thereafter, all their matches were divided between the southern cities of Bengaluru and Chennai, and Kolkata in West Bengal.
“When it comes to India going to Pakistan or vice versa, neither the BCCI nor the PCB can do anything,” said Najam Sethi, the PCB chairman at a press conference on Friday, June 16. “It all depends on the respective governments. If you remember, back in 2016, a team from Pakistan consisting of IB and ISI members had visited India to check the security arrangements, after which then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was consulted, who gave us the green signal to travel to India [for the World T20].
“The same will happen this time. The ICC is asking for our clearance for the World Cup schedule, and I have told them the same thing. We can’t give any clearance without our government’s permission. I have met the PM, but he said he will need some time to check everything. Only after his signal, we can proceed with our preferred venues, be it Chennai or Kolkata. Before that, I can’t say anything. It all depends on the government.”
With Pakistan needing to hold elections before October 14, 2023, the last chapter still hasn’t been written in this ongoing saga.
However, on the Asia Cup, which has now been approved as a hybrid tournament, Sethi is confident that the tournament schedule can be released within a week to ten days.