The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has rejected the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) request to the International Cricket Council (ICC) regarding a change in the World Cup match venues, the Press Trust of India (PTI) reported.
Cricket Pakistan reported on Saturday that the PCB had sought to swap venues for their matches against Afghanistan and Australia. Specifically, they requested that their match against Australia be relocated to Chennai and their match against Afghanistan to Bengaluru.
The PCB’s concern stemmed from the fact that the Chennai pitch is known to be favorable to spinners, which could pose a challenge for the Pakistani team in their match against Afghanistan. As Afghanistan possesses skilled slow bowlers, Pakistan felt apprehensive about playing them in Chennai.
Despite these concerns, the BCCI has remained firm and dismissed the PCB’s requests made to the ICC. The Indian cricket governing body is unwilling to make any modifications to the proposed schedule.
The report also mentioned that a BCCI source stated that it is customary for the ICC to seek suggestions from member boards regarding the itinerary, but there needs to be a strong reason for changing venues.
The source highlighted that safety concerns, like the ones raised by Pakistan in 2016 during the T20 World Cup in India, could be valid grounds for requesting a venue change. However, expressing reservations based on a team’s on-field strengths and weaknesses would make it challenging to finalize the schedule, the BCCI source claimed.—AFP
