The ODI World Cup warm-up match between Pakistan and New Zealand, on September 29 in Hyderabad, will be played behind closed doors (without spectators in attendance) after the local police failed to provide assurance about arranging adequate security for the game. ESPNcricinfo has learned that the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) has updated the BCCI about the development.
The news, first reported by the Indian Express on Monday, will impact the fans who bought tickets for the match. It could not be confirmed whether the fans have been alerted about the development by Bookmyshow, the ticketing partners for the World Cup. The BCCI, in charge of the entire ticketing process, has so far not put out a public update.
There has been a question mark over the Pakistan vs New Zealand warm-up game, a day-night fixture, since the HCA was told by local police that it would struggle to meet the security demands put in place by the ICC, for World Cup matches including the warm-ups. This is because of two major religious festivals, which take place around the same date as the match and involve large crowd gatherings.
The HCA had updated the BCCI recently about the issue, but was confident that it would conduct the match on schedule by coming up with a back-up plan in case the match date wasn’t changed. But, with the tickets sold and the broadcast plans set in stone, it was not possible to shift the match date.
Hyderabad is one of three venues, along with Thiruvananthapuram and Guwahati, that will host the warm-up segment of the tournament, to be played between September 29 and October 3, before the tournament proper starts on October 5.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo