Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoA) confirmed on Sunday, August 6 the participation of its cricket team in the upcoming ICC Cricket World Cup in India in October-November 2023. The confirmation from the Pakistan Government will come as a huge relief for all the stakeholders as the Men in Green's participation was up in the air in the marquee event despite ICC's release of the schedule given the political relations between the two nations.
"Pakistan has consistently maintained that sports should not be mixed with politics. It has, therefore, decided to send its Cricket Team to India to participate in the upcoming ICC Cricket World Cup 2023.
"Pakistan believes that the state of bilateral relations with India should not stand in the way of fulfilling its international sports-related obligations," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Pakistan Government said in a release.
There have been several to-and-fros between the two nations since India decided not to go to Pakistan for the Asia Cup 2023. Several senior members of the board claimed that Pakistan won't travel to India for the World Cup in retaliation for the BCCI's decision. But, now with less than two months remaining Pakistan has finally confirmed that its team will come to the country for the World Cup.
Pakistan's ministry did mention the fact that they have acted responsibly unlike India in maintaining those bilateral relations by agreeing to send their team for the global event while expressing their concerns for the security of their team in the neighboring country.
"Pakistan’s decision shows its constructive and responsible approach vis-à-vis India’s intransigent attitude, as the latter had refused to send its Cricket Team to Pakistan for the Asia Cup.
"Pakistan, however, has deep concerns about the security of its Cricket Team. We are conveying these concerns to the International Cricket Council and the Indian authorities. We expect that full safety and security of Pakistan Cricket Team will be ensured during its visit to India," the release further stated.
This will be the first time that the Pakistan cricket team will travel to India since the 2016 World T20. The 2020/21 T20 World Cup was hosted by India in the UAE and Oman given the COVID-19 situation in the home country.
Pakistan will open their campaign against the Netherlands in Hyderabad on October 6 before facing Sri Lanka a few days later at the very same venue. Pakistan will take on the arch-rivals India in their third match of the tournament on October 15 at Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi Stadium. The match, however, is likely to shift with PCB agreeing to the date change since the match was coinciding with the first day of the Navratri festival in India.
