| MUMBAI:
India will be the main benificiary in hosting the Cricket World Cup 2011 after
the International Cricket Council (ICC) stripped Pakistan of co-hosting rights,
citing security issues. The
ICC has given India most of the matches, 29 out of 49, while Sri Lanka (12 matches)
and Bangladesh (8 matches) have been retained as co-hosts. India will host one
quarter-final, a semi-final and the final of the tournament. The
14 matches originally scheduled to take place in Pakistan have been redistributed
with eight going to India, four to Sri Lanka and two to Bangladesh. The
decisions were taken at the Central Organising Committee (COC) for the ICC Cricket
World Cup (ICC CWC) 2011 meeting, which took place in Mumbai today. This
was the first meeting of the COC since the ICC Board resolved earlier this month
that, given the current uncertainty surrounding the security situation within
Pakistan, the country should not host matches in the ICC CWC 2011. 13
venues will be used for the tournament with eight of those in India, three in
Sri Lanka and two in Bangladesh. Scheduling
for the quarter and semi-finals will attempt to ensure that the host country will
play at home should it qualify. All venues for matches will be confirmed and announced
in due course. Ratnakar
Shetty has been named as the event tournament director. The tournament secretariat
has also been shifted from Lahore to Mumbai. ICC
CEO Haroon Lorgat says, “It was a very constructive meeting and decisions
taken have created a platform for us to move forward in preparing for the tournament.” A
security directorate will be formed under the chairmanship of Board of Control
for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Shashank Manohar. It will include representatives
of all three hosts and the ICC in a pro-active attempt to manage the issue both
before and during the tournament. A venue inspection sub-committee was formed
under the leadership of N Srinivasan. | 
