By IANS,
Mumbai : The International Cricket Council (ICC) Tuesday shifted the 2011 World Cup secretariat to Mumbai from Lahore and said India will host 29 matches in the quadrennial event.
The move comes after ICC removed Pakistan as the co-hosts of the World Cup due to the volatile security situation there. After rescheduling the 14 matches that Pakistan was to host, ICC said that India will host 29 matches in eight venues while Sri Lanka will host 12 matches in three venues, including a semi-final. Eight matches, and the opening ceremony, would take place in Bangladesh.
ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat while announcing this swept aside fears that Pakistan would boycott the World Cup after being stripped as the co-host. “We will cross the bridge when we come to it,” Lorgat said.
Lorgat said the world body had to relocate Pakistan’s 14 matches after removing the country as a co-host due to “uncertain political situation” there. He also said had ICC gone ahead with Pakistan as a venue, it would have made it difficult to “deliver a safe, secure and successful event.”
Ratnakar Shetty, Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) chief administrative officer, was appointed the Managing Director of the 2011 World Cup. Shetty replaces Pakistani banker Salman Butt.
Lorgat also said BCCI chief Shashank Manohar will head a special committee to address the security needs of various participating countries.
“The security arrangements are very important and a special committee would put together security plans for the successful conduct of the World Cup in 2011. We are confident of organising a very successful World Cup,” Lorgat said.
The subcontinent will be hosting the third World Cup after 1987 and 1996.