The high-voltage face-off between India and Pakistan at this year’s ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup — earlier scheduled for October 15 — will now take place in Ahmedabad on October 14 (Saturday).
The India and Pakistan match was originally set to take place on October 15 but since the tournament’s most anticipated game was clashing with the first day of Navratri, a festival celebrated with mass participation across Gujarat, security agencies had advised the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to tweak the itinerary.
As a result, England’s match against Afghanistan in Delhi will be moved from October 14 and will now be held 24 hours later on October 15.
Pakistan’s match against Sri Lanka in Hyderabad has moved from Thursday, October 12 to Tuesday, October 10 and Australia’s clash against South Africa in Lucknow moved back 24 hours and will now be played on Thursday, October 12 instead of Friday, October 13.
Similarly, New Zealand’s fixture against Bangladesh originally scheduled as a day match for October 14 in Chennai will now be held on Friday, October 13 and be played as a day-night contest.
From the initial phase of the tournament, a minor change to the fixture refers to the timing of England’s match-up against Bangladesh in Dharamsala, with the clash becoming a day match and a 10:30AM (local time) start after it was originally scheduled as a day-night fixture.
Towards the end of the league stage, there are three changes with the double-header encounters of Sunday, November 12 being moved a day earlier to Saturday, November 11 – Australia vs Bangladesh in Pune (10:30AM) and England vs Pakistan in Kolkata (02:00PM).
Meanwhile, India’s last league game against the Netherlands has now been shifted from November 11 to 12, a day-night clash to be played in Bengaluru.
It must be noted that 10 teams will fight for the elusive title across 10 venues from October 5 to November 19, with the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad hosting the tournament opener and the final.
The Cricket World Cup will be played in the round-robin format with all teams playing against each other for a total of 45 league matches.
The top four teams will qualify for the semifinals, which will be held in Mumbai on November 15 and in Kolkata on November 16. The semi-finals and the final will have reserve days
