The biggest cricketing extravaganza of the year, the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 is all set to start on October 5. The 13th edition of the marquee cricketing event will see all the 10 cricketing nations battling for the glory of becoming the World Champions of the prestigious ODI format.
History will be written and dreams will be realised at the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023 🏆
— ICC (@ICC) July 20, 2023
All it takes is just one day ✨ pic.twitter.com/G5J0Fyzw0Z
This will be the first time that India will be hosting the premier tournament as a single host. Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium will be the epicentre of the opening encounter, which will be played between England and New Zealand, and the grand finale which will be played on November 19. Along with Ahmedabad, cities like Bengaluru, Chennai, Dharamsala, New Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Pune, and Kolkata will also be hosting the World Cup clashes.
The competition will be played in a single round-robin format, where every 10 teams will be facing each other once. The Netherlands and Sri Lanka are the two teams that qualified for the biggest competition via qualifiers tournament conducted by the ICC in Zimbabwe during June-July. The top four teams of the league table will be moving forward to the semi-final stage. Mumbai and Kolkata will be the venues for these playoff games, which will be held on November 15 and 16, respectively, before the all-important final.
The two-time winners, India will be aiming to lift the trophy for the third time and would like to do it in front of the home crowd.
The Men-in Blue will start its proceedings against the five-time champions, Australia on Sunday, October 8 in Chennai. The Blue Brigade’s caravan will move towards the Indian capital city, New Delhi, where they will be facing off Afghanistan on October 11. The gigantic Narendra Modi Stadium will witness another chapter of ferocious rivalry, when the Rohit Sharma-led side faces its arch-nemesis, Pakistan on Saturday, October 14.
The Indian side would like to keep its sensational record against the neighbours intact, as till now they have won all seven games that have been played between both sides in World Cups. After facing Pakistan, Team India will be moving ahead to Pune, where the team will be playing against Bangladesh on October 19. New Zealand have been a terrific opponent to the hosts, as since 2003, India have never won a single World Cup game against the Kiwis.
The Indian team will be taking on the last edition’s runners-up on October 22 at the picturesque HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala. After a week’s break, the world champions, England will be battling the home team in an intense encounter on October 29 in Lucknow. The Asian champions will then go on to face Sri Lanka on November 2, South Africa on November 5, and the Netherlands on November 12.
TV and Streaming Details
In India, Star Sports will be providing coverage of every World Cup game on the TV, whereas the OTT platform, Disney+ Hotstar will be the epicentre of digital streaming.