More Changes In ODI WC Schedule? HCA Says Can’t Host Back To Back Games

Hyderabad Police has raised concerns over providing security for back-to-back games, especially the Pakistan fixture.

New Delhi: The Hyderabad Cricket Association has a problem with the new schedule for the ODI World Cup as they’ve written a letter to BCCI to change the venue for the marquee event once again as Hyderabad Police has raised concerns over providing security for back-to-back games, especially the Pakistan fixture.

As per the reports by Indian Express, The Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) has written a letter to BCCI asking for a gap between two games, which it’s now scheduled to host on consecutive days. The Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Uppal will stage the New Zealand-Netherlands match on October 9, with the Pakistan-Sri Lanka fixture scheduled the next day. The latter game was earlier marked for October 12, but was rescheduled to provide Pakistan with enough time between fixtures after their match with India was brought forward by a day. Hyderabad will also host the Pakistan-Netherlands game on October 6.

The World Cup will kickstart from October 5 and the final match will be played on November 19 where the first match will be played between 2019’s finalists England and New Zealand.

Earlier, BCCI changed the dates of several matches because of India vs Pakistan match which was supposed to be played on October 15.

Apart from the India-Pakistan match, details of eight other matches have also been changed in the latest updated schedule of the tournament released on Wednesday.

India’s last league match against the Netherlands, a day-night clash to be played in Bengaluru, has now been shifted to November 12 from November 11.

Due to the change in date of the India-Pakistan clash, defending champions England’s fixture against Afghanistan at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi will now be played 24 hours later on October 15, instead of the original date of October 14.

Pakistan’s contest against Sri Lanka in Hyderabad has moved from October 12 to now being played on October 10. On the other hand, Australia’s big match against South Africa in Lucknow has been moved back by 24 hours and will now be played on October 12 instead of October 13.

New Zealand’s game against Bangladesh, which was originally scheduled as a day match for October 14 in Chennai has been moved back by 24 hours and will now be held on October 13 as a day-night contest. England’s clash against Bangladesh in Dharamsala on October 10 is now a day match with a 10:30am start time after it was originally scheduled as a day-night fixture.

Matches scheduled for November 12 have been moved a day earlier to November 11 — Australia-Bangladesh in Pune (10:30am) and England-Pakistan in Kolkata (2pm). It comes after the date of the England-Pakistan clash could be changed due to it coinciding with Kali Puja in the city.

The World Cup commences on October 5 when 2019 finalists England and New Zealand clash at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, with the event culminating in the final at the same venue on November 19.

Meanwhile, the ICC announced that tickets will go on sale from August 25 in a phased manner, with the fans getting the opportunity to register their interest via the official website of the tournament from August 15.

August 25 will see the start of sale of non-India warm-up matches and all non-India event matches, followed by sale of India’s warm-up matches at Guwahati and Trivandrum on August 30.

Tickets for India matches at Chennai, Delhi and Pune will be put on sale on August 31, followed by tickets of their matches at Dharamsala, Lucknow and Mumbai coming for sale from September 1.