Pak does not want to play World Cup first-round matches in Ahmedabad

KARACHI: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Najam Sethi intimated his International Cricket Council (ICC) counterpart Greg Barclay about apprehensions on playing the World Cup match against arch-rival India at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium.

The PCB wants its first-round matches to be scheduled in Kolkata, Chennai and Bengaluru. Barclay and ICC general manager Geoff Allardice were recently in Karachi to seek assurance from the PCB boss that the national team would not demand to play its World Cup matches at a neutral venue.

It is to be noted that the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) is all set to reject PCB’s demand of playing the Asia Cup on the basis of a ‘Hybrid Model’. According to a PCB source, Sethi conveyed to Barclay and Allardice that Pakistan does not want its matches to be scheduled in Ahmedabad unless it is a knock-out game.

“He requested the ICC to schedule Pakistan’s matches in Chennai, Bengaluru and Kolkata if the national team gets the clearance from its government to travel to India,” the source said.

The source informed that Sethi had asked the ICC officials to convince the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to accept Pakistan’s ‘Hybrid Model’ for the Asia Cup, which is unlikely to see the light of the day. Sethi had also insisted that the PCB would not accept the new revenue sharing model unless its share was increased in the new five-year cycle.

The BCCI and ICC officials, who are in London for the World Test Championship (WTC) final, are expected to finalise the schedule and venues for the World Cup in the next few days.