Pakistan are ready to take on any side at any venue in India during this year's World Cup, skipper Babar Azam said Thursday as the team awaited government approval to participate in the tournament. 

Pakistan is drawn to play India at Ahmedabad's 132,000-capacity Narendra Modi stadium on 15th October -- the first time they will meet on either's home turf since 2012. 

The neighbors are bitter political adversaries and usually only meet in international tournaments at neutral venues, most recently during the T-20 World Cup in Australia last year. The Pakistan Cricket Board wrote to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the interior and foreign ministries this week asking for formal permission to take part in the tournament.

Azam said he didn't mind who they played, or where."I am thinking that we are going to play the World Cup -- not just against India," he told a news conference Thursday.

"We are not focusing on one team. There are nine other teams, so only if we beat them will we reach the final," clarified Babar.

The new Ahmadabad Stadium will likely prove to be a boiling cauldron for the Pakistan-India clash, one of the highlights of the tournament that starts 5th October.

The International Cricket Council rejected Pakistan's objections to the venue while announcing the World Cup schedule last month.