2011 Cricket World Cup

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The 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup was the tenth Cricket World Cup. It was played inIndia, Sri Lanka,
and Bangladesh. It was Bangladesh's first time co-hosting a World Cup. The World Cup was also due
to be co-hosted by Pakistan, but in the wake of the2009 attack on the Sri Lanka national cricket
team in Lahore, the International Cricket Council (ICC) decided to remove Pakistan from the hosting
countries.[1] The headquarters of the organising committee were originally situated in Lahore, but have
now been shifted to Mumbai.[2] Pakistan was supposed to hold 14 matches, including one semi-final.
[3]
 Eight of Pakistan's matches (including the semi-final) were awarded to India, four to Sri Lanka and
two to Bangladesh.[4]

All matches in the World Cup were accorded One Day International status, with all matches being
played over 50 overs. Fourteen national cricket teams competed in the tournament, including ten full
members and four associate members.[5] The World Cup took place between 19 February and 2 April
2011, with the first match played on 19 February 2011 with co-hosts India and Bangladesh facing off
at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur, Dhaka.[6] The opening ceremony was held on 17
February 2011 at Bangabandhu National Stadium, Dhaka, two days before the start of the tournament,
[7]
 with the final on 2 April 2011 between India and Sri Lanka at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai.

India won the tournament defeating Sri Lanka by 6 wickets in the final. India became the first nation to
win a World Cup final on home soil.[8] India's Yuvraj Singh was declared the man of the tournament.

[edit]Host selection
[edit]Bids
The ICC originally announced its decision as to which countries would host the 2011 World Cup on 30
April 2006. Australia and New Zealand also bid for the tournament, and a successful Australasian bid
for the 2011 World Cup would have seen a 50–50 split in games, with the final still up for negotiation.
The Trans–Tasman bid, Beyond Boundaries, was the only bid for 2011 delivered to ICC headquarters
in Dubai ahead of the 1 March deadline. Considerable merits of the Australasian bid were the superior
venues and infrastructure and the total support of both the New Zealand and Australian governments
on tax and customs issues during the tournament, according to Cricket Australia chief
executive James Sutherland.[9] The New Zealand government had also given assurance
that Zimbabwe would be allowed to compete in the tournament, following political discussions in the
country over whether their cricket team should be allowed to tour Zimbabwe in 2005.

ICC President Ehsan Mani said the extra time taken by the Asian block to hand over its bid
compliance book had harmed the four-nation bid. However, when the time came to vote, Asia won the
hosting rights by seven votes to three.[9] The Pakistan Cricket Board has revealed that it was the vote
of the West Indies Cricket Board that swung the matter, as the Asian bid had the support of the four
bidding countries along with South Africa and Zimbabwe.[10] It was reported in Pakistani
newspaper Dawn that the Asian countries promised to hold fund-raising events for West Indian cricket
during the 2007 World Cup, which may have influenced the vote.[11] However, chairman of the
Monitoring Committee of the Asian bid, I. S. Bindra, said it was their promise of extra profits in the
region of US$400 million that swung the vote,[12] that there "was no quid pro quo for their support",
[13]
 and that playing the West Indies had "nothing to do with the World Cup bid".[13]

The ICC prefers to rotate World venues between major cricket playing nations. The World Cups have
been hosted by England (three times: 1975, 1979, 1983), India/Pakistan (1987), Australia/New
Zealand (1992), India/Pakistan/Sri Lanka (1996), England/Netherlands (1999), South
Africa/Zimbabwe/Kenya) (2003) and West Indies (2007). For the 2011 World Cup Australia/New
Zealand were a strong contender ahead of India/Pakistan/Sri Lanka/Bangladesh because they had not
hosted a World Cup since 1992. In the final voting India won because they argued that since they
were a bigger group of countries they should be assigned a World Cup more frequently. Australia/New
Zealand were awarded the 2015 World Cup
.

[edit]Format

Late in 2007, the four host nations agreed upon a revised format for the 2011 World Cup identical to
the 1996 World Cup, the only change being the number of teams: it was 12 in 1996 and 14 in 2011.
The first round of the tournament will be a round-robin in which the 14 teams are divided into two
groups of 7 teams each. The 7 teams play each other once with the top 4 from each group qualifying
for the quarter-finals.[14] The format ensures that each team gets to play a minimum of 6 matches even
if they are ruled out of the tournament due to early defeats.

[edit]Qualification

Main articles: ICC World Cricket League 2007-09 and 2009 ICC World Cup Qualifier

As per ICC regulations, all 10 full members automatically qualify for the World Cup, including
Zimbabwe who have given up their Test playing status until the standard of their team improves.[15]

The ICC also organised a qualifying tournament in South Africa to determine which Associate teams

would participate in 2011 event. Ireland, who had been the best performing Associate nation since the
last World Cup, won the tournament, beating Canada in the final. The Netherlands and Kenya also
qualified by virtue of finishing third and fourth respectively.[16]

The following 14 teams qualified for the final tournament.

Group A Group B

Rank Team Rank Team

Full Members

1  Australia 2  India
3  Pakistan 4  South Africa

5  New Zealand 6  England

7  Sri Lanka 8  West Indies

9  Zimbabwe 10  Bangladesh

Associate Members

11  Canada 12  Ireland

13  Kenya 14  Netherlands

[edit]Preparations

[edit]Pakistan loses co-host status

In April 2009 the ICC announced that Pakistan had lost its right to co-host the 2011 World Cup due to
ongoing concerns about the "uncertain security situation" prevailing in the country, especially in the
aftermath of the 2009 attack on the Sri Lanka national cricket team inLahore.[17][18]

It is estimated that the PCB will lose $10.5 million due to the tournament being taken away from them.
[19]
 This figure only includes the match-fee of $750,000 per match guaranteed by the ICC. The overall
loss to the PCB and the Pakistani economy is expected to be much greater.

On 9 April 2009, PCB chairman Ijaz Butt revealed that they had issued a legal notice to oppose ICC's
decision.[20] However, the ICC claims that PCB is still a co-host and they have only shifted the matches
out of Pakistan.[21] Pakistan had proposed that South Asia host the 2015 World Cup and Australia/New
Zealand host 2011, however this option did not find favour with their co-hosts and hence didn't
materialise.[22]

[edit]Allocation of matches
On 11 April 2005, Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Shaharyar Khan announced an agreement about
the allocation of games.[23] The original plan involved India hosting the final, while Pakistan and Sri
Lanka would host the semi-finals.[24] and the opening ceremony will take place in Bangladesh.[25]

After being stripped of its co-host status, Pakistan made the bid to host its home games in the cities
of UAE as a neutral home venue. This is a result of Pakistan playing matches in the preceding months
in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah. The pitches in these stadiums have also been developed to suit the
Pakistani players.

However, on 28 April 2009, the ICC announced the re-allocation of matches originally intended to be
played in Pakistan. As a result, India hosted 29 matches across eight venues including the final and
one semi-final; Sri Lanka hosted 12 in three venues, including one semi-final; while Bangladesh
staged eight at two grounds as well as the opening ceremony on 17 February 2011.[26]

On 1 June 2010, the first phase of tickets for the 2011 World Cup in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh
were put on sale following a meeting of the tournament's Central Organising Committee in Mumbai.
The tickets were priced affordably, with the cheapest costing 20 US cents in Sri Lanka, the committee
said.[27] In January 2011, the ICC declared the Eden Gardens ground in Kolkata, India to be unfit and
unlikely to be complete by 27 February when it was scheduled to host a match between India and
England. As a result, the match was moved to Bangalore.[28]