Srinagar: The Pakistan cricket board’s request to hosts BCCI and ICC to change its venues for Afghanistan, Australia matches during Cricket World Cup 2023 in India has been rejected.
The report in National media has said that BCCI and ICC have denied PCB’s request.
The PTI report quoting BCCI source stated that it is customary for the ICC to seek suggestions from member boards regarding the itinerary, but there needs to be a strong reason for changing venues.
The PTI report quoting source highlighted that safety concerns, like the ones raised by Pakistan in 2016 during the T20 World Cup in India, could be valid grounds for requesting a venue change. However, expressing reservations based on a team’s on-field strengths and weaknesses would make it challenging to finalize the schedule, the BCCI source claimed.
It was earlier reported that PCB had sought to swap venues for their matches against Afghanistan and Australia. Specifically, they requested that their match against Australia be relocated to Chennai and their match against Afghanistan to Bengaluru.
The PCB’s concern was that Chennai pitch is known to be favorable to spinners, which could pose a challenge for the Pakistani team in their match against Afghanistan. As Afghanistan possesses skilled slow bowlers, Pakistan felt apprehensive about playing them in Chennai.
