India begin World Cup campaign against B'desh

Mumbai: India will begin their 2011 World Cup campaign against Bangladesh at Dhaka on February 19. This was officially announced by the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Monday night during a glittering ceremony where it released the schedule of the World Cup.

Cricket Nirvana, in a report, ‘Chennai gets three plum 2011 World Cup games’, published a day earlier had mentioned India’s entire schedule of the tournament.

ICC Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat reassured that the World Cup is ICC’s flagship tournament and it continues to be a dream, which every player aspires to realise in his career. “The World Cup medal is the medal every player dreams to win,” he said.

He also assured that the preparations of the mega-event have been coming up nicely and all the stadium undergoing renovations will be ready on time to host the matches.

"A year ago we were concerned about the slow progress of the preparations. But things have started to move speedily and we are on track. Now every staging centre knows the schedule and will be in a position to prepare for the matches," he said.

ICC vice-president and chairman of the Central Organising Committee Sharad Pawar said that this time around India will present not only a great tournament but also great facilities for the game, sponsors, spectators as well as the media.

”With some brand new stadiums to be built and others to be upgraded, the match schedule will allow the venues to focus on the task at hand to plan and implement the preparations and ensure they are ready to welcome the world to this beautiful, historic and cricket-loving region in 2011," said Pawar.

Pawar elaborated that each venue has been given a grant of Rs 50 crore for the renovation of the stadium and Rs 200 crore is being spent to renovate Wankhede stadium, which will host the World Cup final.

Asked about the possibility of Pakistan playing a match in India if they reach the knock-out stages, Pawar said the cricket-loving population of the country would welcome anyone to play irrespective of the political situation.

"I am confident the sports-loving population will welcome anyone and there's no exception," he said.