The ODI World Cup 2023 which will be hosted in India is likely to start from October 5 and the final will be played at Narendra Modi Cricket Stadium, Ahmedabad on November 19, a source told Sports Tak. The decision was taken in the International Cricket Council's meeting helped in Dubai from March 17 to March 20.
“Schedule and venues have almost been decided and technical committee needs to just stamp it. In last three months, ICC and BCCI officials visited many venues and had shortlisted some. For example -- Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Dharamsala, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, Indore, Rajkot and Mumbai,” the source told Sports Tak.
A total of 48 matches will be played in the tournament across the 46-day period.
So far, the venues of warm-up games which will be two to three cities have not been finalised yet. The delay in finalising venues is a result of receding monsoon seasons in different states of India.
Men in Blue will be under tremendous pressure to lift the World Cup trophy and end their decade-long ICC trophy drought. India last won the ODI World Cup in 2011 under MS Dhoni's leadership. Overall, India have won two ODI World Cup titles, the first one coming under Kapil Dev's captaincy in 1983.
If one has to go by the ongoing ODI series between India and Australia, then it is clear that the Men in Blue are still a work in progress. India's batting line-up has looked extremely fragile against a quality Aussie attack and in the second ODI in Visakhapatnam, Rohit Sharma's men were bundled out for just 117 runs. There is still a few months to go for the quadrennial mega event and Team India would look to iron out its flaws.
