The BCCI have confirmed that Pakistan’s first 2023 World Cup warm-up match against New Zealand on September 29 will be played behind closed doors.
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Their decision was advised by local security agencies in Hyderabad, where the match is scheduled to be played, and where festivals are taking place at the same time as the match. Large gatherings are expected as part of the festival celebrations, resulting in the decision to play the match without a crowd.
Spectators who have already bought tickets for the fixture will be given a full refund by BookMyShow, the official ticketing platform for the tournament.
The match is the first of two warm-up games Pakistan are set to play before the start of the main tournament. The second will be against Australia on Tuesday, October 3. Two other warm-up matches are scheduled on the same day as Pakistan’s match against New Zealand; Bangladesh will play Sri Lanka in Guwahati and South Africa will play Afghanistan in Thiruvananthapuram. Both of those fixtures are expected to be played in front of crowds.
ICC CWC 2023 warm-up match update.
The warm-up match between New Zealand and Pakistan scheduled to take place in Hyderabad on 29th September will now take place behind closed doors as per the advice of the local security agencies.
More details here – https://t.co/eKoFEZ4u94… pic.twitter.com/24PwvIkg7m
— BCCI (@BCCI) September 25, 2023
The warm-up matches for the tournament will finish up on October 3, before the tournament gets underway with the first match on October 5. Pakistan’s first match of the tournament will be against the Netherlands on October 6.
Festivals which draw large gatherings have complicated the scheduling for the 2023 World Cup. Several matches had to moved after the initial schedule for the tournament was announced following security concerns about staging them at the same time as public festivals. These rescheduled matches included the marquee India-Pakistan fixture, which was originally scheduled to be played in Ahmedabad on October 15. The date was changed to October 14 to avoid a clash with the first day of Navratri, a nine-day long annual festival in Gujarat.
