Cricket World Cup Begins Today, But There’s No Opening Ceremony. Here’s Why

The Cricket World Cup 2023 is about to begin, with the defending champions England set to take last edition’s runners-up New Zealand in the opening clash at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Thursday. Though a few reports of the opening ceremony being held ahead of the start of the curtain-raiser fixture floated a few days ago but nothing concrete has come from the Board of Control for Cricket in India or the International Cricket Council. As things stand, it doesn’t look like an opening ceremony will be held before the Cricket World Cup begins.

As per a report in the Times of India, an opening ceremony was never planned to be held before the start of the Cricket World Cup matches.

“There was never an opening ceremony planned for the World Cup. I can confirm that,” TOI quoted a source as saying. “In the case of the IPL, you can have a short opening ceremony, as the match starts in the evening. Here, the match starts in the afternoon,” explained the source.

While an opening ceremony has not been scheduled, the BCCI did held the Captains’ Day on the eve of the England vs New Zealand opener. In the event, all 10 captains were grilled by former India head coach Ravi Shastri and ex-England captain Eoin Morgan.

When India captain Rohit Sharma was asked about the fact that the last three World Cups were won by one of the hosting nations, he downplayed the factor.

“Not thinking too much about on that stuff but yeah in last 3 editions hosting teams won the World Cups and we will give our everything in this World Cup and enjoy the tournament,” Rohit said in the World Cup 2023 Captain’s Day event.

“People are going to love this tournament. The stadiums will be jam-packed. Indians love their cricket. It is going to be a great tournament,” Rohit added

The opening match of the Cricket World Cup will start at 2:00 PM IST, with toss taking place at 1:30 PM IST.