Pakistan’s warm-up match against New Zealand in the 2023 ICC ODI World Cup is reportedly going to be played behind closed doors on September 29 at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.
All the 10 participating teams of the showpiece event will be playing some warm-up games ahead of the 2023 ODI World Cup, which gets underway on October 5.
As per a report in Indian Express, spectators will not be allowed for the Pakistan vs New Zealand warm-up match due to inadequate security in Hyderabad. There will be a lack of adequate security provided by Hyderabad Police during the feative season.
“The game will be played without spectators and those who have booked their tickets, their money will be refunded,” a BCCI official told Indian Express.
The report also said that the BCCI will have a word with official ticketing partner for the World Cup – Bookmyshow, to refund the money of people who have booked tickets for the Pakistan vs New Zealand warm-up game.
Earlier, the Hyderabad Police had urged the state cricket association to shift or change the date of the game as they won’t be able to provide enough security due to the game clashing with the festivals of Ganesh Visarjan and Milan-Un-Nabi which culminate on September 28.
However, the Indian board had rejected the appeal as they had already made some amendments to the busy schedule.
Notably, the highly-anticipated India vs Pakistan ODI World Cup clash was originally scheduled for October 15 in Ahmedabad but was later shifted to October 14. The BCCI made the change as October 15 was the first day of Navratri which sees Garba nights being held across the state of Gujarat where massive crowd is witnessed.
The change in the schedule of the clash between the arch-rivals further forced the ICC to make a few more changes in the original schedule. Significantly, India’s last league game against the Netherlands, a day-night clash to be played in Bengaluru, has now been shifted to November 12 from November 11.