ICC World Cup 2023 schedule out, all eyes on India vs Pak match on Oct 15

The eagerly awaited schedule for the 2023 ODI World Cup was revealed by the ICC and BCCI during a special event in Mumbai on Tuesday (June 27), marking a significant milestone as the tournament is just 100 days away.

The Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad will host the opening match, the highly-anticipated India-Pakistan game, and also the World Cup final.

What

The upcoming 2023 men's ODI World Cup will kick off on October 5 in Ahmedabad. This prestigious tournament will feature matches held across ten different venues, with the final scheduled to take place in Ahmedabad on November 19. The semi-finals will be held in Mumbai and Kolkata on November 15 and 16, respectively.

The tournament will span 46 days, consisting of 45 league matches and three knockout matches. These matches will be played in various cities including Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Dharamsala, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, and Pune.

India's matches

The 2023 World Cup begins with an eagerly anticipated rematch between the 2019 finalists, New Zealand and England.

Meanwhile, the host nation India will kickstart their campaign against Australia on October 8 in Chennai.

India's subsequent matches include encounters with:

• Afghanistan in Delhi on October 11, 
• The higly anticipated match against Pakistan in Ahmedabad on October 15,
• Bangladesh in Pune on October 19, 
• New Zealand in Dharamsala on October 22,
• England in Lucknow on October 29, 
• A qualifier in Mumbai on November 2, 
• South Africa in Kolkata on November 5, and
• Another qualifier in Bengaluru on November 11, which is the second-to-last day of the league stage.

Among the ten teams, India have the toughest travel schedule, competing in nine out of the ten venues during the league phase.

While most teams play their nine league matches across multiple venues, Australia, for instance, will play in eight different cities. 

On the other hand, Pakistan will play in only five cities: 

• Hyderabad
• Ahmedabad
• Bengaluru
• Chennai
• Kolkata. 

The league phase concludes on November 12, with England facing Pakistan in Kolkata and Australia taking on Bangladesh in Pune.

Kerala misses out a slot

Much to the disappointment for the cricket fans in Kerala, there were no matches assigned to be played at the state. Many raised their dissapointment on the issue and one of those many was the Indian National Congress(INC) MP, Sashi Tharoor.

Upon the release of the schedule, Tharoor tweeted-out his dissapointment regarding no matches being scheduled at Thiruvananthapuram's Sport's Hub in this year's edition of the ODI World Cup. 

According to the ICC, it has been confirmed that in case India qualify for the semi-finals, the game will be hosted in Mumbai. However, an exception to this arrangement would be if their opponent happens to be Pakistan, in which case the match will be relocated to Kolkata.