The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) confirmed on Saturday that as many as 14,000 extra tickets will be sold for the much-anticipated India-Pakistan encounter, scheduled to be played at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad on October 14.
The arch-rivals will lock horns for the eighth time in the history of the World Cup with the Blues coming out as winners seven out of seven times in previous matches.
While India will look forward to recording their record eighth win against Pakistan in the World Cup, Babar Azam and his men would be willing to give their all to end the losing streak.
A full house is expected in Ahmedabad — where almost 132,000 spectators can be gathered at a time — and even more so since BCCI confirmed the sale of extra tickets.
“The sale of tickets for the match will commence from 12pm IST onwards on October 8th, 2023. Fans can purchase tickets by visiting the official ticketing website,” BCCI confirmed in a brief statement.
It is worth mentioning that Pakistani fans and journalists are yet to receive their Indian visas. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) even expressed their concerns over this issue but there has been no response by BCCI as of now.
Pakistan will have to play their arch-rivals in the biggest stadium in the world with little to no support.
The Men in Green started their World Cup campaign with an important 81-run win against the Netherlands at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Friday (October 6).
Meanwhile, India — who are the current number one ranked ODI team — will take on Australia on Sunday in Chennai to kick off their World Cup journey.
Squads
Pakistan: Babar Azam (c), Abdullah Shafique, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Usama Mir, Haris Rauf, M Wasim Jnr, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Saud Shakeel, Salman Ali Agha.
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav