ICC Postponed 2023 World Cup In India On PCB's Request: Report

The International Cricket Council recently announced the postponement of this year’s T20 World Cup. The marquee event was scheduled to be held in Australia in October-November. However, the ICC has to postpone the competition because of the prevailing conditions due to the pandemic.

But while the postponement of the T20 World Cup was very much expected, the ICC sprung a surprise by announcing a new window for the 2023 World Cup. According to ICC’s Future Tour Programme (FTP) for the 2018-2023 cycle, the 2023 World Cup was originally scheduled to be played from 9 February to 26 March.

However, the tournament will now be held in October-November 2023, with the final on November 26. According to reports, the ICC took the decision at the request of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Ehsan Mani. As per a report in The News, the 2023 World Cup was postponed to a later window in order to give PCB the slot to conduct the Pakistan Super League (PSL).

The report stated that Ehsan Mani pulled some strings before the ICC meeting took place and convinced the apex board to shift the ODI World Cup to a later window that year.

“This means that now the international window in Feb-March is free for the next three years. That’s the window PCB had always chosen to hold the PSL,” a source told The News, Pakistan.

“The PCB chairman garnered support from various ICC Board members to ensure that there is a proper window available for the PSL on the international calendar,” he added.

The ICC’s decision to postpone the 2023 World Cup by few months will now allow the PCB to host the PSL in February-March window for the next three years.

“The Board may not be on the brink of bankruptcy but it is going to face the crunch unless it manages substantial media and commercial rights deals. The fact that PSL has a window available for 2021, 2022 and 2023 editions means that PCB is now in a much better position to sell the rights,” the source asserted.

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