Pak PM Shahbaz Sharif forms high-level committee to decide team's participation in ODI World Cup in India

Pakistan Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif has formed a high-level committee to decide upon the team's participation in the ODI World Cup 2023 in India. The committee is headed by Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto, also Sports Minister Ahsan Mazari, among other members. Pakistan were reluctant to commit their participation in the marquee tournament in India without the government's clearance. 

The committee will reportedly submit its recommendations to the PM after exploring and discussing the aspects of Pakistan and India relations, the government's policy to keep sports and policy apart from each other and also the situation in the host country India for players, officials, fans and media.

The committee includes a few other members also namely - Maryam Aurangzeb, Asad Mahmood, Amin ul Haq, Qamar Zaman Kaira, and former diplomat Tariq Fatmi.

Notably, the PCB management committee interim chairman Zaka Ashraf and chief operating officer Salman Taseer will be leaving for Durban to attend ICC meetings. Ashraf is expected to discuss India’s repeated refusal to send its team to



Pakistan citing security reasons.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced the complete schedule for the World Cup on June 27 in a special event in Mumbai. But Pakistan had written a letter to its Prime Minister on June 26 seeking clearance for the tournament in India. 

"Soon after the World Cup schedule was announced last Tuesday, we wrote to our Patron, Honourable Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, through the Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) Ministry, copying the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Interior, requesting clearance to participate in the World Cup," the PCB had told earlier.

Also, Pakistan will also be sending a security delegation to India for checks of the stadiums where Babar Azam's team will be playing. Pakistan will be their World Cup matches across five venues in India. They will play all the games in Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Chennai and Bengaluru in the ten-nation tournament. The much anticipated India vs Pakistan match is set to take place on October 15 in Ahmedabad.