BCCI Confirms Pakistan’s Warm-Up Opener Will Be Played Behind Closed Doors

The BCCI have confirmed that Pakistan’s first 2023 World Cup warm-up match against New Zealand on September 29 will be played behind closed doors.

The location where the match will be held and where the festival will be held at the same time has been decided by the local security authorities in Hyderabad. The decision was made to play the match behind closed doors as large gatherings are expected as part of the festival celebrations.

Viewers who have already purchased tickets for the match will receive a full refund from BookMyShow, the tournament’s official ticket sales platform.

This match is the first of two warm-up matches that Pakistan will play before the main tournament begins. The second match will be against Australia on Tuesday 3rd October. Two more warm-up matches are scheduled on the same day as the Pakistan-New Zealand match. Bangladesh will play Sri Lanka in Guwahati while South Africa will play Afghanistan in Thiruvananthapuram. Both matches are expected to be played in front of spectators.

The warm-up matches for the tournament end on October 3rd, and the tournament begins with the first match on October 5th. Pakistan’s first match of the tournament will be against Netherlands on October 6.

Ahead of the 2023 World Cup, the schedule for festivals that draw large crowds will be complicated. After the tournament’s original schedule was announced, several games had to be postponed due to safety concerns about the tournament being held at the same time as a public festival. These postponed matches included the main match between India and Pakistan, which was originally scheduled to be held in Ahmedabad on October 15. The date was moved to October 14 to avoid any conflict with the first day of Navratri, an annual festival in Gujarat that lasts nine days.

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