ODI World Cup: Will Pakistan agree to play against India in Ahmedabad?

New Delhi: India and Pakistan are set to face each other in ODI World Cup 2023 on October 15 in the Narendra Modi Stadium Ahmedabad, said media reports citing a draft schedule sent by BCCI to ICC.

However, the Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Najam Sethi last week intimated his ICC counterpart Greg Barclay about his apprehensions about playing the World Cup match against arch-rivals India at Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi Stadium.

PTI had initially reported that PCB wanted its matches to be scheduled in Kolkata, Chennai and Bengaluru.

NewsDrum reported on Sunday that India will probably play Pakistan in Ahmedabad in the World Cup. Pakistan's remaining matches could be held in Chennai and Hyderabad.

The report hinted that a likely consensus between BCCI and PCB on Asia Cup venue has paved the way for the India-Pakistan World Cup clash in Ahmedabad.

The final scheduled expected to release this week will reveal the confirmed venue of the ultimate clash.

Unlike World Cup tournaments played in 2015 and 2019 when the schedule was finalised more than a year in advance, the 2023 World Cup schedule is yet to be announced with just four months to go.

According to ESPNcricinfo, in the draft version, India are scheduled to play their league matches across nine venues. India's itinerary comprises:

* Ind vs Aus, Oct 8, Chennai
* Ind vs Afg, Oct 11, Delhi
* Ind vs Pak, Oct 15, Ahmedabad
* Ind vs Ban, Oct 19, Pune
* Ind vs NZ, Oct 22, Dharamsala
* Ind vs Eng, Oct 29, Lucknow
* Ind vs qualifier, Nov 2, Mumbai
* Ind vs SA, Nov 5, Kolkata
* Ind vs qualifier, Nov 11, Bengaluru

The report said that Pakistan are scheduled to play across five venues during the league phase.

Apart from the India match in Ahmedabad, Pakistan are slotted to meet the two teams progressing from the Qualifier on October 6 and 12 in Hyderabad, and then Australia in Bengaluru (October 20), Afghanistan (October 23) and South Africa (October 27) in Chennai, Bangladesh in Kolkata (October 31), New Zealand in Bengaluru (November 5, day match) and England in Kolkata (November 12), which in the proposed schedule is the final match of the league phase.

Among other big matches are Australia vs New Zealand in Dharamsala on October 29, Australia vs England in Ahmedabad on November 4 and New Zealand vs South Africa in Pune on November 1.