‘Pakistan Will Withdraw From ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 If India....’, Pakistan Sports Minister Sends Stern Warning To BCCI

The ICC World Cup schedule is already out. India are set to play Pakistan on October 15 At Ahmedabad. However, the neighbouring country is still hellbent to host Asia Cup 2023 in Pakistan with India also travelling across the border to play.

Source: Twitter

The cricket teams of India and Pakistan are going to take on each other on October 15 in ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 at Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad. The full schedule of the ten-tem World Cup is out, in which Pakistan play across 5 venues in India. But the likelihood of Pakistan pulling out of the World Cup still remains as the government has formed a committee which will discuss the participation of Babar Azam and Co in the ODI World Cup in India, starting October 5.

Pakistan’s sports minister Ehsaan Mazari, speaking to an Indian newspaper, said that his team will not travel to India if they don’t come across the border to play Asia Cup. In case you didn’t know, former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Najam Sethi had agreed to play Asia Cup in a hybrid model after India refused to travel to Pakistan to play the tournament. Under thus model, Pakistan (who were earlier the hosts) will get to host just 4 matches now while Sri Lanka will be hosting 9 games of Asia Cup. Mazari says that he does not want the hybrid model, adding that Pakistan are the host and have right to hold all matches in the country. 

__ Team India's fixtures for ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023 __

#CWC23 #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/LIPUVnJEeu— BCCI (@BCCI) June 27, 2023

However, the Pakistan sports minister says that if India play their Asia Cup matches at a neutral venue, same should be applied on Pakistan. “My personal opinion, since the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) comes under my ministry, is that if India demands to play their Asia Cup games at a neutral venue, we would also demand the same for our World Cup games in India,” Mazari told Indian Express.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif formed a committee of ministers to assess whether Pakistan will participate in the ODI World Cup. The committee will be headled by foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.

“The committee will be headed by Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and I am among the 11 ministers who are part of it. We will discuss the issue and give our recommendations to the PM, who is also the patron-in-chief of PCB. The PM will take the final decision,” said Mazari. 

Accusing India of bringing ‘sports into politics’, Mazari said that he sees no valid reason for Indian government not sending their men’s cricket team to Pakistan when other sporties ties are already going well. He refused to believe in Indian government’s ‘security concern’ while playing in Pakistan, saying New Zealand, England and Australia recently toured and were given Presidential security.

Not to forget, PCB’s new chairperson Zaka Asharf and BCCI secretary Jay Shah will be in South Africa soon for an important meeting of International Cricket Council (ICC). Zaka is expected to raise the issue of the World Cup participation in that meeting.