Former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Najam Sethi has taken a dig at the BCCI after Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) requested a slight tweak to the schedule of the ICC World Cup 2023 to be played in India from October 5 onwards.
The ICC World Cup 2023 schedule has already seen one revamp with dates and timing of nine matches being changed including the marquee clash between India and Pakistan which will now be played on October 14 instead of October 15 in Ahmedabad.
However, this revamp has left Hyderabad hosting two matches in two days- New Zealand vs. Netherlands on October 9 and Pakistan vs. Sri Lanka on October 10. As per reports, the HCA has been told by the Hyderabad police that they might not be able to provide security to both matches, especially the Pakistan one.
Hence the HCA has requested BCCI to give a gap of a couple of days in between matches so that they can handle security for both the matches.
It remains to be seen whether BCCI agrees to their request of date change as there is just over a month left for the World Cup to begin and ICC recently announced the ticket sale as well.
Meanwhile, Najam Sethi, who while being the PCB chairman had aggressively pushed for the Pakistan team’s World Cup matches to be played at a neutral venue, has taken a dig at the BCCI on the recent request for date change.
“@BCCI should have taken my advice re @TheRealPCB playing their WC games in a neutral country :) They are now in a mess with schedule tweaks being proposed every few days!” he posted on social media.
After BCCI refused to tour Pakistan for the Asia Cup 2023, India’s matches were scheduled in Sri Lanka, along with the final, while PCB bargained for 4 matches to be played in the country.
Sethi, on the same lines, had demanded the ICC to have Pakistan’s World Cup matches at a neutral venue citing security concerns. BCCI has scheduled Pakistan’s CWC 2023 matches at only five venues- Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, and Kolkata.
Also if Pakistan reaches the semi-final, their knockout game will be played in Kolkata even if they face India in the encounter.
