The 2023 Cricket World Cup is just round the corner. It starts on October 5 in Ahmedabad while the final will be played at the same venue on November 19. The ticket sales for the tournament has already started with India vs Pakistan match on October 14 seeing the maximum interest. However, several fans said that they found it hard to book the tickets. India pacer great Venkatesh Prasad is also disappointed that the ticket arrangement by the organisers.
"It's never been very easy to get World Cup tickets. But this time has been harder than before. Could have been better planned and I feel for the fans who have had high hopes and struggled to get tickets. I sincerely hope one of the most important stakeholders, the Fans get their worth and I hope @BCCI makes it easier for the fans," he wrote on X.
"I urge the @BCCI to have more transparency in the World Cup ticketing system and not take fans for granted. Definitely in a stadium like Ahmedabad, for an #IndvsPak clash more than the sold 8500 tickets need to be available when the capacity is 1 lakh + . Likewise for all other matches , a larger chunk needs to be for the fans. It will be more fulfilling if the diehard fan is kept happy and not deprived of this opportunity instead of reserving a large chunk for corporates and members," he wrote in a separate post.
Former Indian cricket team opener Gautam Gambhir named his picks for the ICC World Cup 2023 squad and it came with a couple of surprise choices. Both Shreyas Iyer and Shardul Thakur did not find any place in his squad and instead, Gambhir picked all-rounder Washington Sundar and also pacer Prasidh Krishna as the fourth fast bowling option. In the batting department, he went with Suryakumar Yadav with KL Rahul as the second wicket-keeping option behind Ishan Kishan who will be the top pick for the position.
When it comes to all-rounders, Gambhir opted for Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Hardik Pandya and Washington Sundar. Kuldeep Yadav was the third spin bowling option in the squad.
The fast bowling department had the three usual choices - Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami. However, the surprising selection was that of Prasidh Krishna who was out with injury and made his comeback against Ireland. Shardul Thakur did not find any place in the team.
Gautam Gambhir's ICC World Cup 2023 squad for India: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan, Axar Patel, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami.