BCCI should have taken my advice on Pakistan playing World Cup games in neutral country: Najam Sethi

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Najam Sethi took a major dig at the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) over the repeated tweaks in the schedule of the 2023 ODI World Cup, which is slated to kickstart on October 5, in India. 

As per the latest reports, the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) confirmed that they requested the BCCI to reconsider back-to-back matches allotted to the venue in the World Cup. Notably, the venue in Hyderabad is slated to host two games on October 9 and 10, which includes the New Zealand-Netherlands clash followed by Pakistan and Sri Lanka’s clash. In the same vein, the HCA alerted the BCCI over a potential issue in arranging security for consecutive days.  

With the latest update provided by the HCA, PCB chief Najam Sethi took the opportunity to take a jibe at the BCCI over the tweaks in the schedule and host Pakistan’s matches in a neutral country.

@BCCI should have taken my advice re @TheRealPCB playing their WC games in a neutral country :) They are now in a mess with schedule tweaks being proposed every few days!

— Najam Sethi (@najamsethi) August 20, 2023

“@BCCI should have taken my advice re @TheRealPCB playing their WC games in a neutral country :) They are now in a mess with schedule tweaks being proposed every few days!” Najam Sethi captioned on his ‘X’ handle.

It is worth mentioning that the World Cup schedule has been subject to massive scrutiny as it had been revised previously, with the ICC releasing an altered version on August 9. As many as nine fixtures were revised by the ICC and the BCCI from the original schedule.

The ODI World Cup will see ten venues hosting the league phase, including Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Dharamsala, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai and Pune. 45 fixtures will be played in the league phase, followed by three fixtures in the knockout rounds in the marquee ODI event.

Team India will kickstart their campaign on October 8 as they square off against five-time winners Australia at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. Meanwhile, they will cross swords against arch-rivals Pakistan at the iconic Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on October 14 as per the revised schedule.