In an unexpected turn of events, it came to light that no opening ceremony was planned for the Cricket World Cup 2023, an Indian media report said on Oct 3 (Tuesday).

According to the Times of India, a source familiar with the matter had confirmed that an opening ceremony was never planned for the World Cup.

The report quoted the source saying: “In the case of the Indian Premier League, you can have a short opening ceremony as the match starts in the evening but here the match starts in the afternoon”.

The report also highlighted that the International Cricket Council and BCCI had already held a “Captains Day” event at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Wednesday.

On the other hand, an NDTV report said a Captains Day event was held on Oct 4 where all the captains were grilled by former Indian and England players, Ravi Shastri and 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,” the report stated.

“Not thinking too much about that stuff but yeah in the last three editions hosting teams won the World Cups and we will give our everything in this World Cup and enjoy the tournament,” it quoted Sharma as saying. “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.”

The opening match of the tournament is set to be played today between England and New Zealand. Pakistan will play their first match tomorrow against the Netherlands.