Pakistan Cricket Team Confirms Participation In ODI World Cup After Government's Approval
On Sunday, Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that the country’s men’s cricket squad will go to India for the 2023 One-Day International World Cup. The foreign ministry stressed in a statement that “bilateral relations” with India will not interfere with Pakistan cricket’s international obligations.
“Pakistan has consistently maintained that sports and politics should not be mixed.” As a result, it has chosen to send its Cricket Team to India to compete in the next ICC Cricket World Cup 2023,” the foreign ministry stated in a statement.
“Pakistan believes that the state of bilateral relations with India should not stand in the way of fulfilling its international sports-related obligations.”
Surprisingly, the ODI World Cup succeeds the Asia Cup, which was previously set to be held by Pakistan. However, due to the BCCI’s refusal to send an Indian team to the country, Sri Lanka was selected as co-hosts for the continental event, with all of India’s games being played on the island country. The foreign ministry reminded India of the act in its statement.
“Pakistan’s decision shows its constructive and responsible approach vis-à-vis India’s intransigent attitude, as the latter had refused to send its Cricket Team to Pakistan for the Asia Cup,” the statement read.
In recent weeks, Pakistan authorities have visited various stadiums where the team is scheduled to play World Cup games to check security plans. This will be the first visit to India by the Pakistani men’s team since the 2016 T20 World Cup. Pakistan last played a bilateral series on Indian soil in December 2012-January 2013, which also happened to be the last series between the two countries. Since then, both countries’ meetings have been limited to continental (Asia Cup) and global (World Cup, Champions Trophy) tournaments.
Both teams are scheduled to meet in the World Cup on October 15 in Ahmedabad, however the date may be changed due to security concerns.
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