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With reports hinting that Pakistan’s 2023 World Cup game against India will take place at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, the Pakistan Cricket Board chief Najam Sethi has raised security concerns about playing at the venue. The tentative schedule of the 2023 World Cup states that India and Pakistan will lock horns on October 15th.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had earlier proposed a hybrid model for hosting the 2023 Asia Cup, with India set to play their matches in the UAE, and the remaining games to be played out in Pakistan in September this year. However, the members have reportedly rejected the proposal. The PCB is now convincing the Asia Cricket Council (ACC) to allot the first four round games to Pakistan or they would withdraw from the continental body. The PCB has also rejected the idea of staging the Asia Cup in Pakistan.
“Yes, Najam Sethi as part of the plan B of the hybrid model proposed by us for the Asia Cup has informed the ACC this week in Dubai that PCB would be satisfied hosting four games at home. The one challenge now facing the ACC and us as hosts is that Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and India are insisting the event shouldn’t be held in UAE in September as the weather is very hot. In the recent past, BCCI has organized the entire (half) of IPL in UAE between September and November (in 2021) while the last two Asia Cups have also been held in UAE during the same period.”
During a conversation with the Indian Express, Najam Sethi said that featuring in the World Cup game against India in Chennai and Kolkata would have made more sense and raised safety issues of playing in Ahmedabad. The journalist-turned-administrator said:
“When I heard that the Pakistan match was to be in Ahmedabad, I smiled and said to myself – ‘this is one way to make sure we don’t come to India’. I mean if you’d said Chennai or Kolkata, it might have made sense. I don’t want to go into the politics of it but certainly there seems to be a political angle to this because if there’s one city where we might have security issues, it’s Ahmedabad. And therefore, I think the less said about that, the better. It gave the impression that this was a red herring that was thrown in our way to tell us, ‘hey, we are going to play you in Ahmedabad and you watch out. You know who rules Ahmedabad.”
Pakistan are yet to beat India in a World Cup 50-over game.
