The ICC on Tuesday announced the schedule for the upcoming World Cup 2023 starting from October 5 in India. A total of 10 venues have been selected for the match including Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Dharamsala, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, and Pune.
Inderjit Singh Bindra stadium of Mohali which has been hosting world cup games since 1996 has not been selected as it was denied by the ICC for not meeting the standards, This led to strong criticism from the officials of the association, the state sports minister also criticised the BCCI for not selecting Mohali for the WorldCup.
Explaining why Mohali was not selected for the World Cup BCCI Vice-president said:
“Virat Kohli’s 100th Test last year was given to Mohali. Mullanpur Stadium is getting ready in Mohali. Had it been ready, they would have got a World Cup match. The current stadium in Mohali did not meet the standards of the ICC and hence was denied matches. But that does not mean that matches would not be given to them,” Shukla said.
“Bilateral series matches will be given to them; it is based on a rotational system. No ‘pick and choose’ has been done. ICC’s consent is important in finalising the venues. In Trivandrum, warm-up matches have been given, for the first time. It is not that any centre/zone has been ignored. Stadiums have been chosen after a lot of consideration, even in North East Zone, Guwahati got the matches. A lot of accommodation has been done in the schedule,” he added.
“For the first time, 12 venues have been chosen for World Cup. Earlier, these many venues were not chosen in previous World Cups. Out of these 12 venues, warm-up matches will be held in Trivandrum and Guwahati, remaining venues will have league matches. More centres have been accommodated. Four venues from South Zone, one from the central zone, two from West Zone, and North Zone got two venues,” he added.
“Lucknow has been added. Uttar Pradesh never got a chance to host a World Cup match. Guwahati has been given a chance. Many venues from the South have been added. A fair amount of consideration was given before venues were finalised. ICC has to approve these venues. It is not purely in our hands. All those raising objections should realise that we need consent from ICC to pick up these venues,” he said.