The drama around the ICC World Cup 2023 schedule is far from over. While it looked like the final schedule of the marquee event which is less than 50 days to go with fewer than 7 days remaining for the ticket sales to go live, it now looks like there could be another change in the schedule of the ODI Cricket World Cup in India. It is being learnt that the Hyderabad Cricket Assocition (HCA) has written to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) requesting for a gap between two matches which as per the current schedule it has to host on back-to-back days.
Notably, the revised schedule of the World Cup sees New Zealand vs Pakistan game scheduled at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Hyderabad on October 9 with the Paistan vs Sri Lanka fixture slated at the same venue on the following day. While the Pakistan match was earlier supposed to happen on October 12, it was later rescheduled to October 10 after the India-Pakistan match was brought to October 14, instead of the initially planned October 15. Meanwhile, Hyderabad are also set to host Pakistan vs Netherlands fixture on October 6.
A report carried by Indian Express claims that HCA has requested for the tweak in the schedule citing concerns from Hyderabad Police over providing security for back-to-back matches especiallt for the game involving Pakistan. Notably, the ODI Cricket World Cup is all set to be played in India from October 5 to November 19. The original schedule was made live with 100 days to go for the tournament unlike the previous two editions of the competition in 2019 and 2015 whose schedule was known a year before the tournament went underway.
If at all there is another change in the schedule, it would be a logistical nightmare for the BCCI and the organisers, given that the ticket sales are about to begin and hotel bookings and other travel arrangements would have been made by fans.