The high-octane 2023 ODI World Cup clash between the arch-rivals India and Pakistan will now be held on October 14 instead of the originally scheduled date - October 15 as the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has given its nod to the proposed change of dates made by the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for its two fixtures.
The other change in the schedule involves Pakistan's clash with Asian neighbours Sri Lanka. The Babar Azam-led side was originally slated to play the Lankan Lions on October 12 but after a change in the dates, the two teams will now lock horns with each other on October 10 instead. The venue for the clash will be the Rajeev Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. The change in the schedule will now give a decent amount of time for the 1992 World Cup champions to prepare well for the marquee clash against the Rohit Sharma-led side.
Issues with the lack of enough security deployment on October 15 with the nine-day long Hindu festival of Navratri starting on the day have brought the change in the schedule. After careful consideration among themselves, both BCCI and the ICC approached the highest governing cricketing body in Pakistan about the rescheduling of its group matches.
ICC is expected to release an updated schedule of the ODI World Cup 2023 as supposedly a few other fixtures are also likely to be rescheduled. As per the initial schedule, the Green Brigade will start its World Cup campaign with a clash against the Netherlands in Hyderabad on October 6, followed by their matches against Sri Lanka at the same venue (originally scheduled for October 12) and India in Ahmedabad (originally scheduled for October 15).
The Babar Azam-led side will then travel to Bengaluru to take on the five-time ODI world champions Australia to participate in its fourth fixture of the tournament. They will then move to Chennai for their game against another Asian side Afghanistan and will remain in Chennai for their match against South Africa.
The team under the leadership of Babar will then travel to Kolkata to face Bangladesh and will end their group-stage fixtures with a match against New Zealand in Bengaluru.
