India-Pakistan WC match to go as per plan, hints ICC

London: India has expressed its concerns that they will not play Pakistan in the upcoming World Cup in the wake of Pulwama terror attack in Kashmir in which 44 Central Reserve Police Force soldiers were martyred last week, but International Cricket Council is confident that both the countries match on June 16 in Manchester will go ahead. 

With the World Cup starting in exactly 100 days, there are have been scattered voices that want India to boycott the group match against Pakistan. The fixture itself remains the biggest game of the tournament: nearly half a million applications for tickets poured in as soon as the ICC opened its ballot. Even the World Cup final, to be played on July 14 at Lord's, paled in comparison with about a quarter of a million applications.

Although neither board has made a public comment, internally top officials from both the BCCI and PCB agree that it is too far-fetched right now to predict the situation in June. The ICC's quarterly meetings take place in Dubai next week, where representatives from both boards will have a chance to conduct discussions in person.

David Richardson, the ICC's outgoing chief executive officer, said that 'no indications' have been sent from either board about the World Cup clash not taking place. We haven't written to the boards as yet. 

"Our thoughts are with the people that were impacted by the incident. And we are monitoring the situation with our members including the BCCI and PCB. Certainly there are no indications any of the matches, including the Pakistan-India match, will not be played as planned at the World Cup. But as I say we will continue to monitor the situation," Richardson said. (UNI)