India’s highly anticipated cricket match against arch-rivals Pakistan will take place at the grand Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, as announced jointly by the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) during a special event in Mumbai, 100 days ahead of the tournament.
The tournament will commence on October 5 in Ahmedabad, with the final match scheduled for November 19 in the same city. The semi-finals will be held on November 15 and 16 in Mumbai and Kolkata, respectively.
Over a span of 46 days, the tournament will include 45 league matches and three knockout matches, played across ten venues in India, namely Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Dharamsala, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, and Pune.
Reserve days will be available for all matches from the semi-finals onward. Six matches will be day matches starting at 10.30 am, while the remaining fixtures will be day-night encounters commencing at 2 pm Indian time.
In case India qualifies for the semi-finals, the match will be held in Mumbai, except if they face arch-rivals Pakistan, in which case the game will take place in Kolkata.
The league phase will follow the format used in the 2019 World Cup, with ten teams playing each other once. The top four teams will then proceed to the semi-finals.
India secured their spot in the tournament as the host nation, while the other participating teams, including Afghanistan, Australia, England, Bangladesh, New Zealand, Pakistan, and South Africa, earned their places through their performances in the 2020-2023 World Cup Super League.
The remaining two teams will be determined through the ongoing World Cup qualifiers in Zimbabwe, featuring Sri Lanka, West Indies, Ireland, Nepal, Netherlands, Oman, Scotland, UAE, USA, and Zimbabwe.
Before the official start of the tournament, teams will play warm-up matches scheduled in Hyderabad, Thiruvananthapuram, and Guwahati between September 29 and October 3.
India, considered one of the favorites, will play their first match against Australia on October 8 in Chennai. Subsequent matches will be against Afghanistan in Delhi on October 11, Pakistan in Ahmedabad on October 15, Bangladesh in Pune on October 19, New Zealand in Dharamsala on October 22, England in Lucknow on October 29, a qualifier in Mumbai on November 2, South Africa in Kolkata on November 5, and another qualifier in Bengaluru on November 11, which marks the penultimate day of the league phase.
Throughout the league stage, India will play at nine of the ten venues, making them the team with the most travel in the tournament. Warm-up games are scheduled against England in Guwahati on September 30 and a qualifier in Thiruvananthapuram on October 3.
