What Happens If Pakistan Decides To Boycott Ahmedabad ODI Against India In ICC Cricket World Cup 2023?

The ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 schedule is out and the fans are already excited about the ten-team cricket mega event to begin soon. The tournament kicks off on October 5 with the first game between England and New Zealand at the Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmbedabad. The biggest battle, however, will be the one between long-time rivals India and Pakistan. After months of deliberation and war of words between Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), it was finally decided by the Indian board that the game will be played at Ahmedabad and that Pakistan will be travelling to India to play the World Cup.

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Not to forget, PCB will play in just five venues - Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai and Kolkata - unlike other nine teams will play across the ten venues of the tournament. An earlier report had stated that Pakistan were not keen to play Afghanistan in Bengaluru and Australia at Chennai and wanted the matches swaped. In the schedule, they have got their wishes fulfilled it seems. 

__ Team India's fixtures for ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023 __

#CWC23 #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/LIPUVnJEeu — BCCI (@BCCI) June 27, 2023

Will Pakistan play India at Ahmedabad?

A lot of chatter is on, on social media thay Pakistan may opt out of playing India at Ahmedabad. PTI, in an earlier report, had quoted a PCB source that the then president Najam Sethi had written to ICC that Pakistan wanted to play games only in Kolkata, Chennai and Bengaluru. And that they did not want to play at Ahmedabad unless it was a knockout match. Clearly, Pakistan's demands have not been met this time. 

"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 final," the PCB source was quoted saying to PTI. 

"He requested ICC to schedule their games in Chennai, Bengaluru and Kolkata if national team gets clearance from the Pakistan government to travel to India for the global event scheduled in October and November," the source told the agency.

What if Pakistan decides to boycott India match at Ahmedabad?

One does not know whether Pakistan still have issues with the scheduling of the India vs Pakistan match. But if they do and decide not to play that match at Ahmedabad, India will not mind that at all. In 1996, Australia and West Indies had decided to not play any match in Sri Lanka. That edition was co-hosted by India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. As a result of boycott by Australia and Windies, they gave their opponents a walk over. Similarly, India will also get a walkover, meaning that get the all-important points without even playing the match.