The ODI World Cup 2023 is likely to start on October 5 and end on November 19. ESPNcricinfo has also learned that BCCI, the host of the 10-team main event, has shortlisted at least a dozen venues, with the final scheduled to be at the world’s largest cricket stadium in Ahmedabad.
Apart from Ahmedabad, the shortlist includes Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Dharamsala, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, Indore, Rajkot and Mumbai. In total, the tournament will comprise 48 matches, including three qualifiers over the 46-day period.
Title fight aside, the BCCI has yet to specify the venues for any games, or the two or three cities where the teams will play warmups. The delay in the completion of the venues is due to complications posed by the retreat of the monsoon season at different points in different parts of India.
Usually the ICC announces the World Cup schedules at least a year in advance, but this time too it has been waiting for the BCCI to get the necessary clearances from the Indian government. This includes two key issues: obtaining a tax exemption for the tournament and visa clearance for the Pakistani team, which has not played in India except for ICC events since early 2013.
At the ICC’s quarterly meetings in Dubai last weekend, it was learned that the BCCI assured the world body that the visas for the Pakistani contingent will be approved by the Indian government.
On the issue of tax exemption, the BCCI is expected to update the ICC on the exact position of the Indian government soon. The tax exemption has been part of the hosting agreement that the BCCI signed with the ICC in 2014, when three men’s events were awarded to India: the 2016 T20 World Cup, the 2018 Champions Trophy (later changed to the 2021 T20 World Cup , which was moved to the United Arab Emirates and Oman due to the pandemic) and the 2023 ODI World Cup. Under the agreement, the BCCI was “obligated” to help the ICC (and all its trading partners involved in the tournament) to obtain tax exemptions.
Last year, the Indian tax authorities informed the ICC that it would be charged a 20% tax order (excluding surcharges) on its 2023 World Cup broadcast revenue. a distributed note to its members – state associations – the BCCI noted that any taxes “incurred” by ICC would be “adjusted” against the Indian board’s revenue from the ICC’s central revenue fund.
In the note, the BCCI listed the ICC’s estimated broadcast revenue from the 2023 World Cup at $533.29 million. He said the “financial impact” he would suffer from a 10.92% tax order on that would be around $58.23 million (the BCCI note listed the figure as $52.23 million, which appears to be a error given the listed percentages). That would be more than double to approximately $116.47 million if the tax component were 21.84%, as desired by the Indian tax authorities.
