ODI World Cup 2023: PCB sends a letter to the Pakistani government asking for permission to fly to India

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is trying to get legal permission to go to India starting October 5 for the ODI World Cup 2023. The board has sent a letter to Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the foreign office, asking if the Pakistan cricket team can go to India and if there are any problems at any of the five places where they will play.

In the letter, Pakistan is also asked if they want to send a security team to scout the area before the competition. Pakistan’s league games will all be held in Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, and Kolkata. Reports say that PCB wrote the letter on June 26 because the government has to give special permission for people to go to India.

ESPNCricinfo says that the government has not been given a date for a response, but PCB is unlikely to travel without a green light from the government. The PCB also told the government about Pakistan’s whole schedule, which includes the high-stakes match against India in Ahmedabad on October 15.

“As soon as the World Cup schedule was released last Tuesday, we wrote to our patron, the Honourable Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, through the Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) Ministry, with copies to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Interior, asking for permission to play in the World Cup,” the PCB told ESPNcricinfo.

The PCB also said that the government could send a team ahead of time to India to check out the sites and meet with the people in charge of putting on the event.

The Pakistani government is likely to delay the decision.
“It is up to the government of Pakistan to decide if we should go to India and get permission to play our games there. We have full faith in our government’s decisions and will do whatever they tell us to do. Before telling us what to do next, it is up to the government of Pakistan to decide what process it wants to set up and follow. If this means sending a team ahead of time to India to check out the venues and meet with the event organisers, it will be up to the government alone to make that choice’, PCB said.

The story also says that the current Pakistani government might not decide to go to India because it will be leaving office in August. So, it won’t happen until the next government is in place. At this point, it’s likely that the current government will not make an official announcement.