Hotel rates in Ahmedabad skyrocket for Indo-Pak WC tie

The ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 is almost more than three months away, but hotel rates in Ahmedabad have soared up for the highly anticipated matches between India and Pakistan that is going to take place on October 15.

Narendra Somani, the president of the Hotel Association in Gujarat said on Thursday said that a lot of advanced bookings at massive prices are taking place in Ahmedabad following the announcement of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 schedule.

"There are many cricket lovers in India. The World Cup match is being held in Ahmedabad, that too India vs Pakistan. The capacity of the stadium is over one lakh. Around 35,000 people are coming across the country, across the world. There is a huge gap between the demand and supply. It has been seen that ever since the schedule was announced, online booking started at prices two times, 10 times or even 20 times higher. Different hotels charged different prices and all these prices are due to the big demand-supply gap," said Somani to ANI.

The CWC 2023 schedule was announced on Tuesday.

"Also, people are booking hotels in Nadiad, Baroda and other places within the 100 km territory so that they can come to Ahmedabad via road. This will also increase the footfall at restaurants and eateries. Under the BJP Government, we keep getting massive events. The G20 events for example. Such things are a good sign for our hotel industry," added Somani.

The opening match of the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023, featuring defending champions England and runner-up New Zealand, will be played on October 5 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

Ten teams will feature in this biggest Cricket World Cup ever, to be played across 10 venues from October 5 to November 19, with the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad hosting the tournament opener and the final. The event will feature 48 matches to be played across 46 days.

India will begin its campaign on October 8 against Australia in Chennai.

The venues other than Ahmedabad and Chennai are Bengaluru, Delhi, Dharamsala, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai and Pune. while Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram will join Hyderabad in hosting the practice games. Eight teams have qualified for the 46-day event through the Cricket World Cup Super League while the final two spots will be taken by the finalists of the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier taking place in Zimbabwe.

The tournament retains the round-robin format of last time with all teams playing against each other for a total of 45 league matches. There are six-day matches that will start at 1030 Indian Standard Time (IST) while all other matches, including the knockouts, will be day-night fixtures starting at 1400 IST.

The semi-finals, to be played in Mumbai on 15 November and in Kolkata on 16 November. The semi-finals and the final will have reserve days.