Kolkata: There is a possibility of a change of date with regards to the World Cup match between Pakistan and England on November 12 as the schedule coincides with Kali Puja in West Bengal with the Cricket Association of Bengal requesting the ICC recce team about concerns raised by local security agencies.
If BCCI and ICC have to accommodate another date change, then Pakistan will have a third change in schedule. This is after the rescheduling of the India vs Pakistan game (October 14 instead of 15 in Ahmedabad) and the Sri Lanka vs Pakistan game (now on October 10 in Hyderabad instead of October 12).
Also read: ODI World Cup 2023: India versus Pakistan on October 15 in Ahmedabad
The Ahmedabad Police had told the BCCI that it would find it difficult to take care of security on October 15 which happened to be the first day of the Hindu festival of Navaratri. The ICC and BCCI had released the schedule at a grand ceremony on June 27 but now the revised schedule is yet to be published as it has completely gone haywire.
Kali Puja is the second biggest festival in West Bengal, and thousands of local clubs organise festivities with a large police deployment required to maintain law and order across the length and breadth of the city. While CAB president Snehasish Ganguly denied any "official request" for a change in schedule, senior office-bearers in CAB are well aware that Kolkata Police has already raised this issue.
"Kolkata Police has cited concerns to provide security for the match slated on Diwali. We have informed the ICC and BCCI to reschedule it and if does not happen we would inform the chief minister," a senior CAB office-bearer, who was part of the meeting with the 17-member ICC and BCCI inspection team, said.
In such a scenario, it remains to be seen whether the ICC agrees to another schedule change. CAB chief Ganguly gave a guarded response while talking to reporters after the ICC's inspection and meeting that lasted for more than three hours. "We have not yet got anything officially from the Kolkata Police," Snehasish, elder brother of former BCCI president and India captain Sourav Ganguly, said. "Unless we get something officially, we can't inform the ICC. The security issue is being taken care of by the Kolkata Police. That is not our lookout."
"As I said, we have not got anything officially, if we get anything we will inform ICC." The CAB top brass, incidentally, had gone to meet Kolkata Police officials at their Lalbazaar headquarters a couple of days back. Snehasish however termed it a "courtesy call".
"We went to Kolkata Police for a courtesy visit two days ago, we had a discussion with them. We schedule, plan and how we are preparing the stadium were discussed," he said. However, with multiple changes in schedule, the question that has cropped up is that whether the local security agencies were taken into confidence while chalking up the dates for the World Cup. The CAB is learnt to have requested for a rescheduling of the fixture in a letter to BCCI secretary Jay Shah on Friday.
