In a draft ODI World Cup schedule created by BCCI that was shared with the ICC, India vs Pakistan will be played on 15 October in Ahmedabad. The Motera stadium has the capacity to seat 1,00,000 people.
England and New Zealand, finalists of the 2019 World Cup, will get the ball rolling in the marquee tournament on 5 October. India, meanwhile, are slated to open their campaign against Australia in Chennai on 8 October.
The draft schedule, as accessed by ESPNCricinfo, was shared with the participating countries for feedback before a final schedule is released next week.
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The draft schedule does not contain the venues for the semi-finals, says the report. The dates for the last-four clashes are expected to be 15 and 16 November with the final on 19 November.
Ahmedabad is thus expected to host the first game, the India vs Pakistan fixture and the final.
As per the report, India are expected to play their matches in Chennai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Pune, Dharamsala, Lucknow, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bengaluru against Australia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, New Zealand, England, a qualifier, South Africa and another qualifier respectively.
Pakistan, who are still not officially confirmed for the World Cup due to the impasse over Asia Cup, are pencilled in to play across five venues. Apart from the India vs Pakistan in Ahmedabad, Pakistan are slated to meet the qualifiers in Hyderabad, Australia in Bengaluru, Afghanistan and South Africa in Chennai, Bangladesh and England in Kolkata and New Zealand in Bengaluru.
Among other big clashes, Australia vs New Zealand is slated to be played in Dharamsala, Australia vs England in Ahmedabad and New Zealand vs South Africa in Pune.
With the tournament scheduled for October-November, this is an unprecedented situation for ICC to not officially announce the World Cup schedule and venues. In the past two editions – 2015 and 2019 – the schedule was finalised a year in advance.
On 27 May, BCCI secretary Jay Shah had said the World Cup schedule would be announced during the World Test Championship final. However, that has not proven to be the case.
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