Govt of Pakistan finally greenlights ICC World Cup participation in India

PAKISTAN WILL PARTICIPATE in the upcoming ICC Cricket World Cup in India, after all.

The Government of Pakistan had long raised objections to them playing cricket's world championship in India, ever since India refused to send their team to Pakistan to play in the Asia Cup.

At various times, officials of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the Goverment of Pakistan have made demands like moving the World Cup out of India, boycotting the World Cup and changing the venue of Pakistan's matches. They also expressed "concerns" about the team's safety in India and asked to send a team to review the security arrangements.

Notably, the Pakistan football team and hockey team have recently played in India and none of those who visited have ever made any complaints about their security arrangements.

None of the more dozens of national teams who have played tournaments on Indian soil over the last few years - which includes many cricket tournaments, Hockey World Cups, two U-17 football world cups and other myriads of tournaments - have ever found their security or other facilities to be lacking.

Nonetheless, the Government of Pakistan today issued an official statement on their Ministry of Foreign Affairs website saying their team would, after all, travel to India to participate in the World Cup. The statement read,

"Pakistan has consistently maintained that sports should not be mixed with politics. It has, therefore, decided to send its Cricket Team to India to participate in the upcoming ICC Cricket World Cup 2023.

Pakistan believes that the state of bilateral relations with India should not stand in the way of fulfilling its international sports-related obligations.

Pakistan’s decision shows its constructive and responsible approach vis-a-vis India’s intransigent attitude, as the latter had refused to send its Cricket Team to Pakistan for the Asia Cup.

Pakistan, however, has deep concerns about the security of its Cricket Team. We are conveying these concerns to the International Cricket Council and the Indian authorities. We expect that full safety and security of Pakistan Cricket Team will be ensured during its visit to India."

Many experts in the sport and geopolitics view Pakistan's issues playing in India as a poitical tit-for-tat due to India's refusal to play in Pakistan, rather than an actual concern over the quality of the security provided to the team.

Pakistan's first match in the ICC World Cup 2023 will be against Netherlands, on 6th October in Hyderabad. They will take on India in the most awaited match of the tournament on 15th October in Ahmedabad.

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