Big Breaking: Pakistan confirms ODI World Cup participation, to send its cricket team to India
On Sunday, Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that the country's men's cricket team will go to India for the 2023 One-Day International World Cup.
The foreign ministry pointed out in a statement that "bilateral relations" with India will not interfere with Pakistan cricket's international commitments.
"Pakistan has consistently maintained that sports and politics should not be mixed." As a result, it has chosen to send its Cricket Team to India to compete in the next ICC Cricket World Cup 2023," the foreign ministry said in a statement.
"Pakistan believes that the current state of bilateral relations with India should not prevent it from meeting its international sporting obligations."
Surprisingly, the ODI World Cup replaces the Asia Cup, which was previously set to be held by Pakistan. However, because to the BCCI's unwillingness to send an Indian team to the nation, Sri Lanka were chosen as co-hosts for the continental event, with all of India's games being played on the island country. The foreign ministry reminded India of the deed in its statement.
"Pakistan's decision demonstrates its constructive and responsible approach in contrast to India's intransigent attitude, as the latter had refused to send its Cricket Team to Pakistan for the Asia Cup," according to the statement.
In recent weeks, Pakistan authorities have visited several stadiums where the team is scheduled to play World Cup games to assess security plans.
This will be the first visit to India by a Pakistan men's side since the 2016 T20 World Cup. Pakistan last played a bilateral series on Indian soil in December 2012-January 2013, which also happened to be the last series between the two countries.
Since then, both countries' encounters have been limited to regional (Asia Cup) and global (World Cup, Champions Trophy) events.
This year, though, the fans are in for a large dose of India-Pakistan games; both sides will possibly face twice in the Asia Cup, and are also paired together in ‘Group A’ of the competition.
Both teams are slated to compete in the World Cup on October 15 in Ahmedabad; however, the date may be changed owing to security concerns.