The India vs Pakistan World Cup match has been full of controversies one after the other and this is the latest one to have the match and this is the only one that has nothing to do with Pakistan and it has everything to do with India and the festival of Navratri. And this has caused a lot of fans to get upset because just as everyone thought that when all is set then this issue comes up. And today there will be a meeting to decide what has to be done and in that meeting the BCCI should decide that the date will not be changed from 15th October 2023.
Let’s look at the long history of the Controversies surrounding the match and what should the BCCI and Indian agencies do on this issue.
Asia Cup and the World Cup
The issues started last December as Jay Shah who is the BCCI secretary said that the Indian team will not travel to Pakistan for the Asia Cup which is to be held in September this year. As a reaction to this the then PCB Chairman Rameez Raja said that Pakistan would not travel to India for the World Cup and this made all the headlines for the wrong reasons and this standoff was reaching no solution.
Then PCB had a new head and Najam Sethi took the reigns of Pakistan cricket and he came up with a hybrid model for the Asia Cup and he said that if India will not come to Pakistan for the World Cup then they would also not come to India for the World Cup and everyone knew this was hogwash because no country can boycott an ICC event. However after long negotiations Pakistan agrees to come for the World Cup and a hybrid model was accepted for the Asia Cup where 5 Matches of the Asia Cup will be played across 2 venues in Pakistan which were Multan and Lahore. All issues seem to have been settled and on 15th October at Ahmedabad and the fans were waiting for the tickets to be out and the hotels were getting packed with rates such as 50,000 for one room and to ask the fans to change everything will not be fair on them.
Also Read | Team India’s Schedule for 2023 Cricket World Cup
The Navratri Conundrum
Just a few days ago the security agencies said to the BCCI that they should shift the date of the World Cup match between India vs Pakistan to 14th October. However it is a lot easier said than done because on 14th October already 2 Matches are taking place and on 12th Pakistan are taking on Sri Lanka in Hyderabad so to expect them to play in 2 days in Ahmedabad is impossible for a 50 over match. And the right thing for the BCCI to do will be to keep the match on the 15th and ask the central agencies for security because if the date is changed then India will get a bad name and Pakistan will get the opportunity to tell the world that the security is not uptight in India. The BCCI should not shift the date and venue of the match and show that both Navratri and the World Cup match can be held on the same day just like Qatar hosted the FIFA World Cup Final last year on Qatar Day.
