The International Cricket Council (ICC) finally released the new schedule for the Cricket World Cup 2023 on Wednesday, August 9. As many as nine matches have been rescheduled including two of hosts India's matches. The change in the date of the highly-anticipated clash between India and Pakistan is the big tweak with the encounter being pre-poned by a day from October 15 to 14 at Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi Stadium.
Another India match that has been rescheduled, is the Men in Blue's final league stage match against the Netherlands in Bengaluru. The game was earlier scheduled to be held on Saturday, November 11 but has been postponed to November 12, Sunday to accommodate the Pakistan-England clash in Kolkata, since it was on the day of the Kali Pooja festival in the city.
However, with the India match now set to take place on Sunday, it is coinciding with the biggest Hindu festival, Diwali. Because of the celebrations and the tradition, India generally don't play on the day of the festival. There have been matches on the eve and a day just after but not on the very day of the festival and it will be only the second time that the Indian cricket team will be playing a high-profile game such as the World Cup match, since 1987.
36 years ago, India played Australia in Delhi on the day of Diwali in the 1987 World Cup, October 22. Team India won that game as Mohammed Azharuddin starred with a sensational all-rounder performance scoring an unbeaten 54 off just 45 balls and taking three wickets with the ball as the eventual champions Australia fell short by 56 runs.
The fans too were taken aback by the decision to schedule hosts India's match on Diwali since the matches have been shifted because the police couldn't ensure enough security in cities like Ahmedabad and Kolkata where the matches were supposed to be held on the day of the respective festivals.
The rest of the rescheduled matches include Pakistan vs England, England vs Bangladesh, England vs Afghanistan, New Zealand vs Bangladesh and Australia vs South Africa.
