IND vs PAK, World Cup 2023: Pakistan agrees to visit India, but there is a catch!
The World Test Championship (WTC) Final is taking place in London, and representatives from the ICC and the BCCI are there.
Last Updated: 11.09 PM, Jun 07, 2023
The Pakistan Cricket Board's (PCB) chief Najam Sethi has voiced reservations to the head of the International Cricket Council (ICC), Greg Barclay, overplaying the World Cup 2023 match versus India at Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi Stadium. PCB is expressing concerns about the safety of its players if they were to play India in Ahmedabad.
The PCB has asked for their matches to be held in Kolkata, Chennai, and Bengaluru, according to PTI. Officials from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the International Cricket Council (ICC) are currently in London for the World Test Championship (WTC) Final and their primary objective is to finalize the schedule and venues for the upcoming World Cup.
In order to get assurances from Sethi that they wouldn't insist on playing their ODI World Cup matches at a neutral site, Barclay and ICC General Manager Geoff Allardice travelled to Karachi.
According to a senior PCB source: "Sethi has conveyed to Barclay and Allardice that Pakistan doesn't want its matches to be scheduled in Ahmedabad unless it is a knock-out game like the final.
"He requested ICC to schedule their games in Chennai, Bengaluru and Kolkata if the national team gets clearance from the Pakistan government to travel to India for the global event scheduled in October and November," the source added.
As for the upcoming Asia Cup 2023, a PCB official has stated that Sethi has requested the ICC officials to persuade the BCCI to accept Pakistan's 'Hybrid Model', however, it seems unlikely that this proposal will be accepted.
They also stated that Pakistan will not accept the new revenue-sharing model unless its share is increased in the upcoming five-year cycle.
"Sethi pointed out that it was unfair that Pakistan should get a lesser share of the ICC revenues in the new cycle compared to Australia and England," the source said.
"Sethi argued that Australia and England regularly get to play bilateral series with India and their players also take part in the Indian Premier League which means extra revenues for the two boards from the IPL management," he added.