Venkatesh Prasad slams BCCI and ICC over mismanagement of World Cup fixtures, ticketing

Former India pacer Venkatesh Prasad on Saturday slammed the Board of Cricket Council of India BCCI and International Cricket Council ICC for mishandling things related to the Menrsquos ODI World Cup 2023 and called it a pure mess and a matter impacting lsquoNational PrestigeThe ICC Mens ODI World Cup is scheduled to kick off at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on October 5 with a rematch of the 2019 final between England and runnersup New Zealand As per the official schedule 48 matches will be played across 10 venues from October 5 to November 19Prasad took to social media platform X previously Twitter to express his opinion on the way BCCI is handling things in the runup to the mega eventIndia is hosting the mens ODI World Cup for the fourth time and Prasad who played the 1996 edition at home said the BCCI has messed up the leadup to the World CupAlso Read ICC World Cup 2023 India schedule squad match venues fixturesldquoThere is no debate and doubt on the fact that we have messed up the leadup to the World Cup Unreasonable delay in the schedule in the first place and if that wasnrsquot enough changing the schedule hampering 5 matches in the process If that wasnrsquot enough a completely nontransparent and inefficient ticket system only encouraged black marketeers Prasad wrote in his post on the social media platformldquoIt is a proud moment to be hosting a World Cup and it should have been a great time for the fans but these difficulties for the fans donrsquot look unplanned Itrsquos time we wake up and not make this incompetence a norm just because ldquoYes Menrdquo around donrsquot want to speak up It is a matter of national prestigerdquo he addedAround 100 days before the events commencement on June 27 the 2023 World Cup schedule was first made public as compared to the 2018 World Cup where the fixtures were made public more than a year in advanceThe schedule then went through additional adjustments as many hosting associations expressed reservations over a clash of the matches with other important events in the cityThe fixture list was finally amended on August 9 about a month and a half after the first announcement and with less than two months until the first game of the tournament scheduled for October 5A total of nine games were rescheduled amounting to one in every six groupstage matches These included Indiarsquos game against archrival Pakistan the most anticipated firstround clash England the World Cup holders are the most affected team with three of their nine games rearrangedIndore Mohali Rajkot and Nagpur are among the venues that have been somewhat surprisingly left out Notably Mohali hosted the 2011 ODI World Cup semifinal between India and Pakistan Sports Ministers of Several states showed their displease with the BCCI decision and alleged discrimination and politics over sportsHowever BCCI vicepresident Rajeev Shukla came up with a clarification and called all allegations ldquobaselessrdquoThe sudden change in the schedule saw cricket fans struggling to get tickets in India and across the world BCCI released 400000 tickets on Friday September 8 after the initial sale of tickets that ended on September 3After the sudden change in the schedule BCCI faced criticism from fans for releasing the tickets late The International Cricket Council made changes to the schedule to sort out logistical issues last monthThe delay in the announcement of ticket sales has led to confusion and travelling fans are fretting about the logistical issues that they might face during the World CupEarlier Venkatesh Prasad also slammed the Asian Cricket Council ACC after it decided to have a reserve day for India vs Pakistan Super 4s clash on SundayThe former pacer said it would be unethical if the rules were different for just two teamsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever