The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced the schedule for the much-anticipated 2023 Men’s ODI Cricket World Cup, set to commence on October 5 with the opening match at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium. The final will also be held at the same venue on November 19 while Mumbai and Kolkata will host the semifinals on November 15 and 16, respectively.
A total of 10 venues have been selected to host matches for this historic ICC event, making it the largest-ever tournament in terms of venues. Apart from Ahmedabad, the other seven host cities include Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Dharamsala, Hyderabad, Lucknow and Pune.
However, the exclusion of certain major venues has left officials disappointed. Indore’s Holkar Stadium, which has a rich cricketing history and regularly hosts international matches, expressed disappointment at not being included. The Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association’s president, Abhilash Khandekar, expressed his regret over Indore missing out on a World Cup fixture, recalling that the city had hosted a match in 1987.
Similarly, Mohali, which has been hosting World Cup matches since 1996 and witnessed the high-octane India-Pakistan semi-final in 2011, did not make the cut this time. The Punjab Cricket Association source expressed disappointment at the exclusion, pointing out that it seemed only cities with influential office bearers had been chosen.
Meanwhile, Punjab Sports Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer suggested that politics might have played a role in the decision, expressing sadness that a stadium that produced many Indian cricket superstars did not receive a single match.
“The exclusion of Punjab’s Mohali from the list of host cities for the tournament was due to political interference. The Punjab government will raise this issue with the BCCI,” Hayer told ANI.
On the other hand, he noted that the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad was hosting the opening match, the final and the much-anticipated India-Pakistan clash.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor also expressed disappointment at the omission of Thiruvananthapuram’s SportsHub from the World Cup fixtures, suggesting that Ahmedabad seemed to be gaining prominence as the cricket capital of the country.
In response to the concerns raised regarding the exclusion of certain venues, Rajeev Shukla explained that the decision was not solely within their control. The vice president of the BCCI emphasised that obtaining consent from the ICC was necessary before finalising the selection of venues.
(With ANI inputs)
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Updated: 28 Jun 2023, 09:04 AM IST
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