India vs Pakistan, World Cup 2023: Pre-match ceremony in Photos as Sunidhi Chauhan, Arijit Singh and others perform

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The much-anticipated ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 match, India vs Pakistan, gave the fans a grand welcome at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Saturday (October 14). Before the match started at 2 PM, the half-hour show took place with Bollywood singers performing.

Famed singers Arijit Singh, Sunidhi Chauhan and Sukhwinder Singh performed in front of an almost-packed house. However, only fans were present at the Narendra Modi Stadium at the time of the show as the event wasn't broadcast on TV or the OTT platforms.

The official broadcaster of the ICC World Cup 2023, Star Sports confirmed the news of no coverage of the pre-match ceremony through an official statement on its X handle (formerly Twitter).

The statement from Star Sports read: "The ceremony at the Narendra Modi Stadium before match 12 of ICC Men's CWC 2023 (India Vs Pakistan) has been planned for in-stadia fans. Their ceremony is not for broadcast. We have you covered for the rest- the match, the highlights & everything in between."

Meanwhile, Indian captain Rohit Sharma opted to field first after winning the toss and confirmed that Shubman Gill has recovered from his ill health and is available to play the match in place of Ishan Kishan. Rohit added it was tough to drop Ishan after he scored 47 runs in the last game.

We will bowl first, cannot get bigger than this, fantastic atmosphere," said Rohit Sharma after the toss. "Sure lot of us are going to experience something really extraordinary. It's a good track, not going to change much, dew could be a big factor and keeping that in mind, we want to bowl first.

"We want to keep striving for the best, we want to come out there and give our best in every game. Keeping the atmosphere in the team relaxed is the most important thing in a tournament like this.

"Gill is back in place of Ishan, unfortunate for Ishan to miss out, feel for him, he stepped up when we needed him. Gill has been a special player for us over the past year or so, especially at this ground and we wanted him back."