The Hyderabad Cricket Association has expressed apprehension about hosting back to back World Cup matches in the city just days ahead of the 2023 World Cup ticket sales. The HCA raised this concern with the BCI citing security issues for the two ODI matches to be played over two consecutive days.
The HCA reportedly informed the BCCI that the Hyderabad police was worried about offering security for two back to back matches—Nertherlands Vs New Zealand scheduled to take place on October 9 and Sri Lanka Vs Pakistan the following day on October 10.
The BCCI is expected to revert after examining the issue.
Interestingly, the sale of tickets for the upcoming world cup are all set to begin in a matter of five days from now. The world cup tickets sales is expected to begin on August 25.
It is worth mentioning here that the ICC already changed the schedule of nine matches, one of them being India Vs Pakistan to be played in Ahmedabad on October 15. The date was advanced by a day resulting in the date change of Sri Lanka Vs Pakistan match in Hyderabad match. The match which was to be played on October 12 will now be played on October 10.
Sri Lanka will reach Hyderabad on October 8 after a day-night match in Delhi against South Africa. Meanwhile, Netherlands and Pakistan too will stay in Hyderabad for their second group match. Hence the HCA is reportedly not confident about all the teams getting enough practice at Uppal's Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.
Should the BCCI go ahead with the present schedule, then the HCA has no choice but to make arrangements to provide adequate security to the teams not to mention enough time for practice on the ground.
