ODI World Cup 2023

‘Aur koi option he nahi tha’ -Fans react as Pakistan confirm their participation for ODI World Cup 2023 in India

Pakistan won the ODI World Cup in 1992.

Aug 7, 2023 5:36 pm

The Pakistan Cricket team got the green light from the country’s foreign affairs ministry to go to India for the 2023 World Cup. The ODI World Cup will be held for the fourth time in the country and it will be the sole host. Pakistan earlier said that they would not travel to India. Now the foreign ministry of Pakistan has changed its tone and said that sports and politics should be kept apart in a press release. The Asia Cup is being co-hosted by Pakistan. India will not travel there due to its hostile relationship with its neighbour.

The Foreign Ministry said that it is very worried about the security of the Pakistan Team and has given a heads-up to the Indian authorities and also to the Cricket Governing Body. Pakistan last played a bilateral series against India in 2012. The two T20Is were tied 1-1 and the three-match ODI series was won by Pakistan 2-1. During the 2011 World Cup, both teams went head-on in the semi-final clash at Mohali where India won by 31 runs.

India displayed a very intransigent attitude by taking the stance of not playing the Asia Cup in Pakistan

“Pakistan has consistently maintained that sports should not be mixed with politics. It has, therefore, decided to send its Cricket Team to India to participate in the upcoming Cricket World Cup 2023,” Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said. “Pakistan believes that the state of bilateral relations with India should not stand in the way of fulfilling its international sports-related obligations. Pakistan’s decision shows its constructive and responsible approach vis-à-vis India’s intransigent attitude, as the latter had refused to send its Cricket Team to Pakistan for the Asia Cup,” The Press release added.

The Asia Cup will be co-hosted by Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Four games will be held in Pakistan and the remaining nine in Sri Lanka. While all the other teams will have to do a lot of travelling between the two countries, India will play all their games in Sri Lanka. Pakistan was earlier the sole Asia Cup host but due to the friction between India and Pakistan, Sri Lanka was included as co-hot later. The India-Pakistan World Cup clash will take place on 14 October at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.