ODI World Cup: India to play Pakistan on Oct 15 in Ahmedabad as per draft schedule
New Delhi, Jun 12: India will open their ODI World Cup campaign against Australia in Chennai on October 8 while Ahmedabad will host their much-anticipated match against arch-rivals Pakistan a week later, according to BCCI's draft schedule for the tournament.
"The BCCI shared the draft schedule with the ICC, which then sent it to the participating countries for feedback before a final schedule is put out early next week," ESPNCricinfo reported on Monday.
As per the initial draft, the tournament will begin on October 5 with reigning champions England taking on last edition's runner-up side New Zealand in Ahmedabad, which will also host the final on November 19.
The venues for the semifinals, which are likely to be played on November 15 and 16, are yet to be decided.
Hosts India, who last won the ODI World Cup in 2011 at home, will play their league phase matches across nine cities, including, Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi and Bengaluru. They will take on Pakistan on October 15.
Pakistan, meanwhile, will play their league matches across five cities.
"Pakistan are slotted to meet the two teams progressing from the Qualifier on October 6 and 12 in Hyderabad, and then Australia in Bengaluru (October 20), Afghanistan (October 23) and South Africa (October 27) in Chennai, Bangladesh in Kolkata (October 31), New Zealand in Bengaluru (November 5, day match) and England in Kolkata (November 12)," the report read.
Australia's match against Trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand in Dharamsala on October 29 and against England in Ahmedabad on November 4 are some of the other big fixtures.
A total of 10 teams will participate in the tournament. Out of these, eight teams have already been decided and while two other teams will qualify for the main tournament via the qualifiers.
With a little over four months left for the marquee event to begin, there has been an unprecedented delay in releasing the schedule.
The schedule of the last two editions of the tournament -- 2015 and 2019 -- was finalised over a year in advance.
India's tentative schedule:
India vs Australia, Oct 8, Chennai
India vs Afghanistan, Oct 11, Delhi
India vs Pakistan, Oct 15, Ahmedabad
India vs Bangladesh, Oct 19, Pune
India vs New Zealand, Oct 22, Dharamsala
India vs England, Oct 29, Lucknow
India vs Qualifier, Nov 2, Mumbai
India vs South Aafrica, Nov 5, Kolkata
India vs Qualifier, Nov 11, Bengaluru.
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Udupi CNG fuel shortage: Long queues of vehicles has become a common sight
Udupi (Karnataka) Apr 29: The coastal district of Udupi is going through a severe shortage of Compressed Natural Gas for Automotive applications.
Although the number of CNG fuel-based vehicles is increasing, the number of CNG filling stations in Udupi district has not risen. In the existing bunks, the supply is not as high as the demand. Due to this, motorists, especially rickshaw drivers have to wait for hours to get their fuel tanks filled.
“I've been waiting for not less than four-five hours everyday for the past one week. Most of the time my vehicle is idle and I am not able to take up fares, as a result of which I have lost so much of income and my bank obligations will take a beating if this continues any longer," Sundar Shetty, a rickshaw driver in Udupi said.
CNG fuel is not being supplied to existing bunks as per demand. And as the demand is high, the stock depletes quickly and sometimes the rickshaws are parked overnight in a queue for early morning refuelling, leaders of the CNG Autorickshaw Drivers Association said.
In Udupi town, there is only one bunk that has CNG facility, but most of the time it is empty.
“Due to high investment on land, equipment and daily stocks, there are not many takers for this business” the bunk owners said.
There is only one CNG station in Kundapura taluk out of three in Udupi district. There are more than 5,000 CNG based vehicles in the district.
The sight of hundreds of rickshaws and other vehicles waiting to fill CNG fuel at the CNG bank in Koteshwar every day from 4 am is very common.
Sometimes one has to wait till 8-9 o'clock. However, there is no guarantee that everyone will get fuel. Similar are the conditions in Karkala and Kundapur taluks of Udupi district.
The rickshaw drivers and other CNG users have appealed to the Udupi district authorities and approached the Udupi Chamber of Commerce and Industry to put pressure on the government to normalise supply and to open more bunks.
