India-Pakistan to clash on 16 June in ICC World Cup 2019

Interestingly, ICC in their various marquee events has always started with an Indo-Pak fixture which is a sureshot sell-out. It happened in the 2015 World Cup in Australia (at Adelaide) and 2017 Champions Trophy in UK (in Birmingham). But this time around it has not been the same.

India-South Africa clash in the World Cup which was supposed to take on June 2 has been postponed due to this reason and has been finalized to take place on June 5.

As the BCCI will have to maintain a mandatory 15-day gap between IPL final and international assignment as per the Lodha Committee recommendation the dates of the event have been changed.

The venue of the high voltage encounter between the arch rivals India and Pakistan will take place on June 16 at Old Trafford in Manchester.

IPL which usually starts in the second week of April has been preponed and will now be played between March 29 and May 19 in 2019.

ICC Chief Executives 5-day meet which is currently being held in Kolkata, on Tuesday announced that India will open their 2019 World Cup campaign against South Africa on June 5.

Along with inaugural date other major decisions were also announced on Tuesday after the meet. Though the final schedule of the World Cup is still awaited but the World Cup fixture is set to take toll on the 12th edition of the IPL.

The 12th edition of the ICC Cricket World Cup is all set to take place in the United Kingdom from May 30 to July 14.