The upcoming ICC ODI World Cup 2023 is set to be a huge hit as this will be the first time that the tournament will be hosted by India completely by itself. The 48-match tournament will kickstart on October 5 and will go on till the final clash, which will take place on November 19th at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
The much-awaited high-voltage India vs Pakistan clash on October 15th will also take at the same venue. However, there are still doubts over Pakistan’s participation in the tournament.
Pakistan cricket team, whose participation was under the scanner because of ongoing political tensions with team India, will kickstart their campaign with a game against Qualifier 1 on October 6th. PCB recently stated that they will need the government’s approval to visit India.
The International Cricket Council recently sent a stern warning to the PCB regarding Pakistan’s participation in the ODI World Cup 2023. The statement read:
“Pakistan have signed a participation agreement to compete and we expect them to be there and have had no indications to the contrary All Members have to abide by the rules and the laws of their country and we respect that. But we’re confident Pakistan will be in India for the Men’s Cricket World Cup,”
What will happen if Pakistan decides against visiting India for ODI World Cup 2023?
The ICC sources stated that if Pakistan decides against visiting India for the upcoming tournament, the next top team from the qualifiers will replace them.
“If Pakistan decides against coming to India for the ODI World Cup 2023, then it will be replaced by the third-top team from the WC qualifiers.” ICC Sources revealed to Times Now.
Talking about the ongoing qualifiers, the qualifier round is currently taking place in Zimbabwe and the two finalists will qualify for the ODI World Cup 2023 and travel to team India for the marquee tournament.
Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, West Indies, Netherlands, Scotland, and Oman have already qualified for the Super Six stage of the tournament.
Going by the current situation, it looks difficult for the West Indies to qualify for the event as they have lost two games in the group stage and will go into the Super Six stage with zero points. On the other hand, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe have four points each.
