ODI Cricket World Cup 2023: Eden Gardens prays for India vs Pakistan semi-final, ICC warns PCB

The semi-finals of the ICC ODI Cricket World Cup 2023 at the iconic Eden Gardens stadium will feature Team India, but only if their opponent is Pakistan. After the much-delayed announcement of the World Cup 2023 schedule, the ICC also announced that India’s semi-finals will be held at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, but if they face Pakistan, the last four matches will be held at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

The India vs Pakistan group stage match will however take place on October 15 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president and former BCCI president Sourav Ganguly’s brother Snehasish Ganguly said on Tuesday that preparations have been completed. ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 kicks off and says India vs Pakistan match at Eden Gardens will be a dream match.

“The preparations have started. We started preparing for the World Cup after the IPL. We are renovating the stadium, the corporate box. Ground conditions are excellent. Preparations for the ground will start from July 1. We had a meeting with our curator. Eden Gardens is ready to host the World Cup. There are some glitches here and there, within the next two months we will resolve all those issues,” Snehasish Ganguly told ANI news agency.

Expressing satisfaction over the World Cup schedule, Ganguly said they got ‘what we expected, what we wanted’. “We tried to get the semi-final match this time and at the last moment we got the semi-final match at Eden,” he said.

Kolkata will host Qualifier 1 vs Bangladesh on 28 October, Pakistan vs Bangladesh on 31 October, India vs South Africa on 5 November, England vs Pakistan on 12 November and the second semi-final on 16 November.

“Everyone’s first choice would be the India vs Pakistan semi-final at Eden Gardens, it would be a dream match,” he added.

#Watch , “Preparations have already started… We are renovating the stadium… Eden Gardens is ready to host the World Cup…”: Bengal Cricket Association President Snehasish Ganguly on ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 pic.twitter.com/XoTBGxlBj4— ANI (@ANI) 27 June 2023

Regarding the pitch, Ganguly said that the staff would go for a sporting wicket, which offers high-scoring competition and helps both bowlers and batsmen. “In IPL, everyone enjoyed the matches as they were high scoring and the wicket conditions were good. We will try to maintain it,” he said.

Ganguly said that a decision on the cost of tickets would be taken in the next few days. “We expect crowds to come, we have a capacity of 65,000. Keeping this in mind, we will have a fair price,” he said.

ICC issues warning to Pakistan Cricket Board

The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Tuesday said that Pakistan has signed a participation agreement to compete in the upcoming ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 in October-November. Notably, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Tuesday said that it is currently in touch with the Government of Pakistan for guidance and approval to tour India for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 and will inform the ICC about the outcome. .

An ICC statement on the matter said, “Pakistan have signed a participation agreement for the competition and we expect they will be there and there is no indication to the contrary.”

“All members have to follow the rules and laws of their country and we respect that. But we are confident that Pakistan will be in India for the Men’s Cricket World Cup.

This statement of PCB came after the announcement of the schedule of ICC Cricket World Cup 2023. “The PCB requires the approval of the Government of Pakistan for any tour of India, including match venues. We are liaising with our government for guidance, and will update the Event Authority (ICC) as soon as we hear from them. This position is in line with what we conveyed to the ICC a few weeks back when they shared the draft schedule with us and sought our feedback,” the PCB statement said.

PCB’s participation in the ICC CWC 2023, to be held entirely in India for the first time, has been a widely debated topic ever since the announcement by Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary and Asian Cricket Council (ACC) chairman Jay Shah. Is. Last year the Asia Cup 2023 will be held at a neutral venue instead of being hosted by Pakistan.

(with ANI inputs)