Pakistan PM sets up high-level committee to decide on national team's travel to India for ODI World Cup 2023

After the Pakistan Cricket Board wrote to the government seeking advice about its men's cricket team's travel to India for the ICC World Cup 2023, Pakistan Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif formed a high-level committee to take a call on the same. The committee will be headed by Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and the other members include Sports Minister Ahsan Mazari, Law and Justice Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, Maryam Aurangzeb, Asad Mahmood, Amin ul Haq, Qamar Zaman Kaira, former diplomat Tariq Fatmi, and other high-profile members of intelligence agencies.

The main task of the committee will be to advise PM Sharif on whether Pakistan should send their men's cricket team to India for the World Cup, the schedule for which was announced in the last week of June.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) expect Pakistan to travel to India for the ODI World Cup starting October 5.

The PCB, however, has conveyed to them that the national team’s participation in the premier event is subject to government clearance due to the tense relations between the two countries.

PCB had written to the Pakistan government seeking clarity on the road ahead and whether the authorities have any security concerns in India and the five venues where Pakistan are slated to play their nine group fixtures.

Pakistan have their longest stay in this World Cup in Hyderabad. After playing two warm-up matches at the Raji Gandhi Stadium, they start their campaign at the same venue against the Netherlands and Sri Lanka. They have one match in Ahmedabad against India, two in Bengaluru against Australia and New Zealand, two in Kolkata against Bangladesh and England, and two in Chennai against Afghanistan and South Africa.

If Pakistan qualify for the semi-finals, they will play that in Kolkata.

Notably, before the schedule was announced, PCB had expressed their reservations about playing in Ahmedabad. They were also not happy playing Australia in Bengaluru and Afghanistan in Chennai.

The concerned ministers have already indicated to the PCB that a high-level security delegation would be sent to India to inspect the venues where Pakistan’s matches are scheduled. The acting chairman of the board, Zaka Ashraf, and chief operating officer, Salman Taseer are also due to leave for Durban on Saturday night to attend the ICC meetings where it is expected that Ashraf would be discussing India’s repeated refusal to send its team to Pakistan citing security reasons.

For the unversed, India have decided not to travel to Pakistan for the Asia Cup in August. The tournament which was originally supposed to take place in Pakistan, will now be played in a hybrid mode with India's matches slated in Sri Lanka and the rest in Pakistan.