The Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 is scheduled to begin (today )on Thursday, with the match between England and New Zealand at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, India.

Defending champions England will take on New Zealand in a much-awaited clash between the 2019 World Cup finalists that opens the tournament in Ahmedabad.

The tournament will continue until Sunday, November 12th, with a group-stage match every day.

Teams

The tournament will feature ten teams and will be played across ten venues from October 5th to November 19th. The top four teams will qualify for the semifinals, to be played in Mumbai on 14 November and in Kolkata on 16 November.

The semi-finals and the final will have reserve days.

Hosts India will face-off against five-time winners Australia in Chennai on October 8th. The most exciting and talked about match between traditional rivals India and Pakistan will be played in Ahmedabad on (15 October).

Venues

Stadium in Ahmedabad will host the tournament opener and the final. The other nine venues are Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Dharamsala, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai and Pune. Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram will join Hyderabad in hosting the games.

The tournament retains the round-robin format of last time with all teams playing against each other for a total of 45 league matches.

Timings

There are six day matches which will start at 10:30am Indian Standard Time (IST) while all other matches, including the knockouts, will be day-night fixtures starting at 14h00 IST.

Favourite

India is considered a favorite to win this year’s tournament. However, Australia, England, and South Africa are also strong contenders 3. It’s going to be an exciting tournament with some of the best cricket teams from around the world competing for the title of world champion!