International Cricket Council (ICC) announced the schedule of the ODI Cricket World Cup 2023 in Mumbai on Tuesday.
The mega tournament commences on October 5. It concludes with the final match on November 19. Two semifinal matches will be played at Kolkata’s iconic Eden Gardens and Mumbai’s Wankhede stadiums respectively. The final will be played at the Narendra Modi cricket stadium in Ahmedabad which is the largest cricket stadium in the world.
The inauguration match will be played between England and New Zealand at Ahmedabad on October 5. Hosts India will play their first match against Australia in Chennai on October 8. The Rohit Sharma-led team will meet their arch-rivals Pakistan at the Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad on October 15.
A total of 10 teams will take part in the tournament. Only eight teams have qualified for the mega tournament so far. The final two berths will be taken over by two teams at the end of the Qualifier tournament in Zimbabwe, which concludes on July 9. All the 10 teams will play each other in the round-robin format. The best of the four teams will qualify for the semi-finals.
Apart from Australia and Pakistan ties, India will lock horns with Bangladesh in Pune on October 19.Then the hosts will take on New Zealand at Dharamsala on October 22. India will also play against England in Lucknow on October 29. Mumbai will host India vs Qualifier on November 2. India vs South Africa match will be played in Kolkata on November 5. India vs another Qualifier match will take place in Bengaluru on November 11.