The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) and India have both accepted Pakistan Cricket Board's (PCB) hybrid model for the 2023 Asia Cup with focus now shifting towards the ODI World Cup slated to begin later in October in India. While the schedule should have been announced by now by the International Cricket Council (ICC), there are still a few finalisations yet to be made the most crucial of that pertains to PCB who have shown apprehension towards the blockbuster group game against India in Ahmedabad. PCB's stance has left former Pakistan cricketer Shahid Afridi furious as he questioned the logic behind their denial to play at the Narendra Modi Stadium.
According to reports, BCCI has already sent a final draft of the World Cup schedule which begins from October 5 onwards with the blockbuster match on October 15. The schedule was then shared with all the participating nations to get their feedback. It was then that Pakistan denied playing in Ahmedabad, one of the four venues where the Babar Azam-led side will compete.
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Speaking on a local news channel, Afridi urged PCB to brush aside their apprehensions and allow the Pakistan team to compete. He rather backed the side to pull off a win in Ahmedabad against India.
“Why are they declining to play on Ahmedabad pitches? Does it hurl fire or is it haunted?” Afridi questioned.
{{/usCountry}}“Why are they declining to play on Ahmedabad pitches? Does it hurl fire or is it haunted?” Afridi questioned.
{{/usCountry}}"Go and play - go, play and win. If these are the foreseen challenges, then the only way to overcome them is through a comprehensive victory. What matters at the end of the day is Pakistan team's win. The crux only and only lies in there. Take this rather positively. If they [India] are comfortable there, you should go, pull a victory in front of packed Indian crowd and show them what you got," he added.
According to a report, ICC officials had met PCB chairman Najam Sethi in Pakistan where the latter conveyed that the team will not play a World Cup game in Ahmedabad unless its a knockout tie.
"He requested ICC to schedule their games in Chennai, Bengaluru, and Kolkata if the national team gets clearance from the Pakistan government to travel to India for the global event scheduled in October and November," a senior PCB source reported.