Pakistan granted clearance for 2023 ODI World Cup participation

Pakistan Cricket Board. (Photo Source: Twitter/TherealPCBmedia)

After a lot of dilemma, Pakistan have finally confirmed their participation in the upcoming ODI World Cup 2023. Notably, after India denied participating in the Asia Cup in Pakistan, PCB issued multiple statements stating that the Babar Azam-led side will not be travelling to the Indian subcontinent for the World Cup if BCCI does not change their stance. Following this, there have been a lot of talks regarding the Asia Cup situation as it eventually got resolved.

Since then, PCB was expected to clear the doubt regarding Pakistan’s participation in the World Cup, but it took some time to finalise. The Zaka Ashraf-led body sent a security team to India in order to inspect the grounds, and following their report, the Pakistan government allowed the team to travel for the marquee tournament.

“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 ICC Cricket World Cup 2023,” the Foreign Office said in a statement on Sunday.

“Pakistan’s decision shows its constructive and responsible approach vis- -vis India’s intransigent attitude, as the latter had refused to send its Cricket Team to Pakistan for the Asia Cup,” the statement further read.

Pakistan’s fixtures in ODI World Cup still unclear

As per the schedule that was initially released by BCCI, Pakistan were slated to play their first match against the Netherlands on October 6. However, the date of the match is likely to change. Notably, the marquee clash between India and Pakistan was supposed to take place on October 15 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, but due to Navratri, it is likely to get preponed to October 14, and that’s the reason the entire schedule may look something different when it gets re-released.

Pakistan’s game against England on November 12, too, looks uncertain at the moment as the Cricket Association of Bengal has been informed by Kolkata Police that it might be a problem for them to handle such a high-voltage match on the night of Diwali. Thus, multiple of Pakistan’s matches might get changed in the coming days.