This year the ODI World Cup is to be played in India. The schedule for this tournament to be held in October-November is yet to be decided. However, the BCCI has sent the draft schedule of the World Cup to the ICC. At the same time, the ICC is currently waiting for Pakistan's consent to participate in this tournament. Seeing the draft schedule, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has also started reluctantly. PCB has demanded from ICC and BCCI to change the venue of its two matches. On this demand, India's veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has targeted Pakistan cricket.

Actually, the ICC has sent the draft schedule to all the countries participating in the World Cup. According to this schedule, Pakistan is scheduled to play against Australia on October 20 at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru and against Afghanistan at the Chepauk Stadium in Chennai. PCB has demanded to change these two venues. The PCB has not given any reason for this. However, according to media reports, Pakistan wants to enter every match as a favorite team. He is scared of playing Chinnaswamy from Australia and Chepauk from Afghanistan. Chinnaswamy is a high-scoring pitch, while Chepauk helps spinners. Afghanistan has spinners like Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rehman.

Responding to this demand, Ashwin said on his YouTube channel that due to the reasons given by the PCB, he does not think that the ICC will accept his words. India's veteran spinner said that it could have happened if Pakistan had demanded a change of venue citing security reasons. In the 2016 T20 World Cup, Pakistan sought to shift the match against India from Dharamshala due to security reasons. After this, the match between India and Pakistan was played at Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

Ashwin said- Pakistan has mentioned in its request letter itself that the conditions in Chennai will be in favor of Afghanistan. So changing the venue will be beneficial for Pakistan. I doubt the ICC will heed this request. It is possible that the venue can be changed if Pakistan has given some valid security reasons. Another interesting point is that Pakistan has sought to interchange the venues against Australia and Afghanistan. This is an interesting request from Pakistan. For now, Pakistan will play Australia in Bengaluru and Afghanistan in Chennai. They want the venue to be swapped for these two matches.

Ashwin said, “The ICC will consider these requests only for security reasons. The match between India and Pakistan in the 2016 T20 World Cup was scheduled to be held in Dharamsala but was shifted to Kolkata due to security reasons. The ICC is expected to make an official announcement on June 27, exactly 100 days before the tournament begins.

(pc amarujala)