World Cup 2023: India to lock horns with England in their first warm up game in Guwahati

As per the schedule released by the ICC, India will play its final warm-up game against a qualifying team on October 3 in Thiruvananthapuram. This is five days before India plays against Australia in their World Cup opener in Chennai.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has chosen Greenfield Stadium in the state capital to host four warm-up games. Notably, the venue will not host any of the games involving the main draw of the tournament.

Apart from India, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Afghanistan, and the qualifying teams will be playing their warm-up matches in Thiruvananthapuram. These matches will be played between September 29 and October 3. Guwahati and Hyderabad are the other two venues where World Cup practice matches will be played.

Beginning with South Africa vs Afghanistan game on September 29, Thiruvananthapuram's Greenfield will host World Cup warm-up matches. After that, on September 30, there will be a match between Australia and a qualifying team. On October 2, South Africa will play against New Zealand. The four games in Thiruvananthapuram will be broadcasted live. However, the original schedule is subject to change.

"Fans will be able to witness the top six teams playing their warm-up games here as their favorite players will be in action. It would be difficult for us to manage as it would be like hosting a mini-tournament in only five days", said KCA president Jayesh George as quoted by TOI.

The PCA stadium in Mohali, the SCA stadium in Rajkot, and other popular cricket venues like the VCA Jamtha in Nagpur aren't included in the ICC's World Cup schedule either.

"We should be grateful that we will be hosting four World Cup warm-up games. The ICC only decided to assign these warm-up games to a location that is not owned by a state cricket association due to Jay Shah, the secretary of the BCCI as the stadium has only been leased to KCA," said Jayesh further.

Tentative WC warm-up schedule in Thiruvananthapuram:

September 29- South Africa vs Afghanistan
September 30- Australia vs Qualifier
October 2- New Zealand vs South Africa
October 3 -India vs Qualifier