BCC announced the schedule for the ODI World Cup to be played in India and according to it, this Mahakumbh of cricket will last for 46 days and a total of 48 matches are to be played in it, starting from October 5. However, before the schedule came, Pakistan had started raising objections for it. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) started playing the game from the moment the draft schedule came out. First he said that he wanted to play matches in Kolkata and Chennai, then he demanded to change the venues of the match against Afghanistan in Chennai and against Australia in Bengaluru.
However, his demand was completely rejected by the ICC. Now the question is, why is Pakistan doing such a drama again and again? Is he really afraid of playing in India and losing badly?
The whole matter started in October last year. Asian Cricket Council Chairman Jay Shah said in his statement on October 18 that the Asia Cup to be held in 2023 will be played at a neutral venue. Since then the mess of Pakistan Cricket Board started. The then PCB Chairman Ramiz Raja objected to this BCCI decision and said that if India does not come to Pakistan for the Asia Cup, then the Pakistan team will not travel to India for the 2023 World Cup.
Ramiz Raja made contradictory statements about the BCCI and the Indian team at the time. Time passed after this but the rhetoric from Pakistan continued. A coup broke out in Pakistan and Prime Minister Imran Khan had to step down. Shahbaz Sharif became the new Prime Minister of Pakistan. Along with this, Ramiz Raja was also removed from the post of PCB chief. After that Najam Sethi became the interim chairman of PCB. He also continued to make statements instead of stopping. In the meantime, several meetings were held between him and the rest of the Asian Cricket Council and he tried to convince the rest to play the Asia Cup in Pakistan.
However, the rest of the countries stood by the BCCI and Pakistan suffered the consequences. After this the PCB under the chairmanship of Najam Sethi offered a ‘hybrid model’. According to this model, India’s matches were to be held in some other country. Earlier, through this model, Pakistan demanded to host important matches including the final in their country, which was rejected by most of the important countries of the Asian Cricket Council, including India. After the IPL was over, the Asia Cup matches were given the go-ahead, it was decided that the tournament would be organized only on a hybrid model and would see Pakistan-Sri Lanka hosting the tournament. Pakistan was to host only 4 matches in this tournament to be played from August 31 to September 17. Also Sri Lanka will host 9 matches. India will play all its matches in Sri Lanka.
While the Super-4 round matches and the final will also be held in Sri Lanka. India-Pakistan match in Asia Cup will also be held in Sri Lanka. In such a situation, Pakistan had to face difficulties regarding the Asia Cup as well. This is a big reason for PCB’s displeasure. When Pakistan’s demands at the Asian Cricket Council were not met, the PCB tried to block the ICC World Cup programme. After the draft schedule came out, Pakistan wanted many changes in it.
For this he also wrote a letter to the ICC. The PCB demanded a change of venue for the matches against Australia and Afghanistan. Pakistan will face Australia on October 20 at Chinnaswamy in Bengaluru and Afghanistan at Chepauk, Chennai on October 23. PCB wants to change the venues of these two matches or swap the venues of these two matches. Apart from this, Pakistan did not want to play a match with India in Ahmedabad. The ICC and BCCI have rejected the Pakistan Cricket Board’s demand to change the venue of the two matches. The reluctance of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) started after seeing the draft schedule but the ICC did not allow them to do anything.