BCCI requested to change Pakistan-England WC schedule

ICC World Cup schedule could witness another change in date as the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) has requested the BCCI to move the England-Pakistan game.

A report on PTI revealed that the CAB has urged the ICC recce team to change the schedule for the World Cup match between Pakistan and England on November 12 given that the game will coincide with Kali Puja, suggesting November 11 as an alternative.

If BCCI and ICC have to accommodate another date change, then Pakistan will have a third change in schedule.

According to ESPNcricinfo, CAB officials had a meeting with city police authorities on Thursday, and were informed about the law-and-order concerns on the day of the festival. Following that, the association wrote to Jay Shah, the BCCI secretary, requesting the date change.

Earlier, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has reportedly agreed with ICC and BCCI on proposed change of dates of two of its matches in the upcoming ODI World Cup.

The marquee India-Pakistan clash will now be played on October 14 rather than the scheduled date of October 15 as released in the original ICC schedule, according to ESPNcricinfo report, though the ICC is yet to release a revised schedule.

The match will still be played in Ahmedabad. The India-Pakistan match had to be rescheduled due to issues with regards to deployment of security on the first day of Navratri festival in Ahmedabad.

Pakistan will also play Sri Lanka on October 10 instead of October 12 in Hyderabad, facilitating a three-day gap before the India game.

The change of the India-Pakistan date will almost certainly have an impact on other games and teams. October 14 is already a double-header, featuring games between Bangladesh and New Zealand in Chennai and Afghanistan and England in Delhi. The latter game is likely to be affected, potentially played a day earlier (October 13).

The changes to the schedule, two months away from the ODI World Cup, come after the original schedule was already extremely delayed.