CWC 23 ICC will be hosted by India from October 5 to November 19, 2023. The tournament returns to India after a gap of 12 years. India last hosted the Cricket World Cup in 2011, when the nation won the tournament as well.
It is noteworthy that the ICC men’s 50-over World Cup is the grandest tournament in the sport. This year, the tournament’s first clash or league game will be a repeat of the 2019 World Cup final, England vs. New Zealand. The match will be played at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium, earlier known as Motera and the biggest cricket stadium in the world.
About CWC 23 ICC
The tournament will be on for 46 days and will see the 10 top teams in the world vying for the greatest glory in the sport, the 50-over men’s World Cup.
Teams and qualification
The 10 teams that will be competing in CWC 23′ are India, Australia, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Netherlands, England, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Most shockingly, West Indies, which are two-time World Cup winners have failed to qualify for the tournament. They failed to grab one of the nine qualification spots that were for the taking.
Since India was the host country, it got its qualification by default. However, for the rest of the teams, going through the qualification procedures was a must. A multi-tiered qualification process was put in place for the other teams. This was spread across three years and presented in the form of smaller tournaments.
Seven teams, which included England, the defending champions earned their qualification based on their ICC Super League standings. ICC Super League was operational from July 2020 to May 2023.
With eight slots of the ten occupied, two slots remained to be filled to get ten teams who would go on to compete in the World Cup 2023. The Netherlands and Sri Lanka claimed these final two slots by ending up towards the top in the knockout qualification stage, which was played earlier in the year.
CWC 23 ICC: Format and schedule
In this section, we will discuss the format and the schedule of CWC 23′. In its initial stage, CWC 23′ will be played in the round-robin format. As each of the 10 teams plays the other teams once, it will amount to 45 matches.
Starting from October 5th, the first stage will conclude on November 12th. The last match in the Round Robin stage will be India vs. Netherlands, which will be played in Bengaluru.
When the round-robin stage of the World Cup ends, the top four teams, as evaluated by the points and net run rates earned during the league games will qualify for the semi-finals. While the top standing team will play the fourth standing team in the first semi-final on November 15 in Mumbai, the second standing team will play the third standing team in the second semi-final on November 16 in Kolkata.
It is important to know that if Pakistan qualifies for the semifinals, they will play their semifinals in Kolkata, irrespective of their table ranking. Similarly, if India qualifies, they will play their semifinals in Mumbai.
If India and Pakistan are pitted against each other in the semifinals, the match will be played in Kolkata.
Venues
The tournament organizers have made sure that the matches are spread all across India in CWC 23′. If Dharamshala from the northern part of the country is included in the venues, so is Chennai from South India. Matches are to be played in Kolkata from the extreme East of India and Ahmedabad in the West of India.
The host cities for CWC 23’ are Ahmedabad, Chennai, Bengaluru, Dharamshala, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Lukhnow, Mumbai, New Delhi, and Pune.
India vs. Pakistan CWC 23 ICC
The final will undoubtedly be the biggest game in the World Cup. But besides the finals, the viewers from around the world are keeping their eye out for the India versus Pakistan clash. This high-profile match has been scheduled in Ahmedabad on 14th October. As per Indian media reports, it took less than an hour for the tickets to be sold out online after they were put up for sale.
An interesting point regarding the India-Pakistan rivalry in the 50-over CWC is that Pakistan are yet to beat India in the marque event, in 48 years of its history. India enjoys a 7-0 lead over their arch-rivals in the tournament.
The latest India vs. Pakistan match held in the Asia Cup also went India’s way. This makes the hosts the favorites for winning the match.
Controversies
CWC 23 ICC was marred by a host of controversies associated with its management and the liaison and scheduling for the fans and the teams. When the schedule of the tournament was announced 100 days before it began, comparisons were drawn with other major sports tournaments where the schedules were announced months and sometimes years in advance.
Similarly, ties between India and Pakistan are thorny, and the same laid repercussions on Pakistan’s participation in the World Cup and travel plans to India.
Interesting facts regarding the World Cup 23’
Prize money
| Total | $10m |
| Winners | $4m |
| Runners-up | $2m |
| Semifinalists | $800,000 |
| Teams finishing at the group stage | $100,000 |
| Each group stage win | $40,000 |
Previous winners
| 1975 | West Indies |
| 1979 | West Indies |
| 1983 | India |
| 1987 | Australia |
| 1992 | Pakistan |
| 1996 | Sri Lanka |
| 1999 | Australia |
| 2003 | Australia |
| 2007 | Australia |
| 2011 | India |
| 2015 | Australia |
| 2019 | England |
