The ICC Men's ODI World Cup 2023 is less than two months to go. The tournament starts on October 5 in Ahmedabad. One of the most highly-anticipated matches are between India and Pakistan. The arch-rivals only play each other in either International Cricket Council (ICC) or Asian Cricket Council (ACC) tournaments due to various reasons, political and otherwise, the teams do not take part in bilateral series. The hype increases, therefore, every time the two sides clash with each other.
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Before the World Cup, India and Pakistan teams can potentially play each other thrice in the Asia Cup 2023. That will be a good prep for the World Cup. The ten-team tournament, however, will bring bigger challenge for both the sides.
The Pakistani contingent will be travelling to India for a cricket series for the first time in 11 years and it will not be easy. They will be playing across five venues in the country, including Ahmedabad and Eden Gardens, the two biggest stadiums in the country.
Shadab Khan "We won't have the crowd support in India. In that sense we'll have to be very strong mentally. The way our players are, mentally strong, I think we'll have a good tournament" #CWC23 #Cricket pic.twitter.com/zTaZx3M505
— Saj Sadiq (@SajSadiqCricket) August 11, 2023
Pakistan leg-spinner Shadab Khan realises the pressure that an event as big as World Cup will bring on the players, especially while playin in India without much crowd support. That is why he has asked his teammates to be mentally strong to face the Indian crowd. "It is a special moment for any Pakistani player to play World Cup for his country. We won't have the crowd support in India. In that sense we'll have to be very strong mentally. The way our players are, mentally strong, I think we'll have a good tournament," Shadab was speaking on sidelines of The Hundred tournament in England.
The India vs Pakistan game will now be played on October 14 at Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad, which has the capacity of accomodating over a a lakh spectators. Earlier, this match was scheduled for October 15, which was a Sunday. As per reports, the reason for preponing the game by a day could be do with the security concerns in city as Ahmedabad police had requested Board of Control for Cricket in India to change the dates as October 15 is also the first day of hindu festival Navratri, a big occasion in all of Gujarat state. Arranging security for both these two big events would have been a challenge for the police. However, Jay Shah, BCCI secretary, has not said given any clear reason for the change in schedule. He had told the media that a couple of teams had reached out to BCCI to make some changes.
