Daily Times

LAHORE: Pakistan’s foreign ministry has said it is “evaluating all aspects” of the country’s participation in this year’s 50-overs World Cup in India with bilateral cricket stalled between the South Asian neighbours due to soured political relations. The two countries have played each other only in multi-team events at neutral venues over the last decade and doubts remain over Pakistan’s involvement in the World Cup in October-November. Pakistan’s Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari was among the foreign ministers who travelled to India’s Goa last month for a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting, becoming the first senior Pakistan leader to visit India in nine years.

A foreign ministry spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said Pakistan was of the view that “politics should not be mixed with sports.” “India’s policy of not playing cricket in Pakistan is disappointing,” Baloch said in Islamabad on Thursday. “We are observing and evaluating all aspects relating to our participation in the World Cup including the security situation for Pakistani cricketers and we will offer our views to PCB (Pakistan Cricket Board) in due course.” Doubts over Pakistan’s participation has meant that the dates and venues for the World Cup are yet to be confirmed with just over three months left before the start of the tournament. India has already ruled out travelling to Pakistan for the Asia Cup, which is scheduled to begin on Aug. 31. In response, Pakistan threatened to boycott the World Cup if they lose the hosting rights to the Asia Cup. Looking for a compromise, the Asian Cricket Council said the regional tournament will be hosted in a ‘hybrid model’ with four matches held in Pakistan and the remaining nine in Sri Lanka.

The 2023 World Cup is slated to begin on October 5. The India vs Pakistan fixture is set for ten days later in Ahmedabad. It is one of five venues that Pakistan are scheduled to play at during the league phase. Due to strained political relations between the two countries, Pakistan have not toured India since the 2016 T20 World Cup, and even back then there was uncertainty around Pakistan coming to India. The PCB had threatened to pull out of the tournament unless they had clear and public assurance from the Indian government about the security to be provided to their players. These negotiations eventually resulted in the India-Pakistan match having to be shifted from Dharamsala to Kolkata.

The PCB has requested the ICC to swap venues for two of their league matches in the 2023 ODI World Cup based on an internal assessment of the grounds they are due to play at. Pakistan are currently scheduled to play Australia in Bengaluru on October 20, and then Afghanistan in Chennai on October 23 but have asked for a change where they play Afghanistan in Bengaluru and Australia in Chennai. The request has been turned down. Normally, security is the primary reason for a venue change at an ICC event. There was no mention of a security threat in the PCB’s internal assessment. Given the already unprecedented delay — World Cup itineraries usually go out a year in advance — the ICC is hoping to finalise the fixture list and provide it to the public by next week. Pakistan have until then to relay their concerns, if any.