The World Cup was originally to have been hosted by Pakistan as well, but in the wake of the 2009 attack on the Sri Lanka national cricket team in Lahore, the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab, the International Cricket Council (ICC) were forced to strip Pakistan of its hosting rights. The headquarters of the organising committee were originally situated in Lahore, but have now been shifted to Mumbai.
Host Selection
- Bids
The ICC originally announced its decision on 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 March 1 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. The New Zealand government had also given assurance that Zimbabwe would be allowed to compete in the tournament, following political discussions in the country whether their cricket team should be allowed to tour Zimbabwe in 2005. The Australasian bid also won the support of former West Indies captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul.
ICC President Ehsan Mani said the extra time taken by the Asian bloc 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 ten votes to three. 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. 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. 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, that there "was no quid pro quo for their support", and that playing the West Indies had "nothing to do with the World Cup bid".
International cricket politics lie at the heart of the dispute. Since cricket is the most popular sport in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, Asia is of fundamental financial importance to the International Cricket Council. However, historically, international cricket has been controlled by the "Old Commonwealth" nations of England, Australia, and New Zealand, supported by South Africa.[citation needed] The centre of cricketing politics has moved, over time, with the money, and the Asian nations, particularly India under the guidance of Jagmohan Dalmiya, looking for greater control in the direction of international cricket, and in 2005 Dalmiya said that the Indian subcontinent should host every third World Cup.
| Venues | ||||
| Country | City | Stadium | Capacity | Matches |
| India | Mumbai | Wankhede Stadium | 45,000 | Final |
| Sri Lanka | Colombo | R. Premadasa Stadium | 35,000 | Semi-final |
| India | Kolkata | Eden Gardens | 90,000 | Semi-final |
| India | Delhi | Feroz Shah Kotla | 48,000 | |
| India | Chennai | M. A. Chidambaram Stadium | 50,000 | |
| India | Hyderabad | Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium | 40,000 | |
| India | Bangalore | M. Chinnaswamy Stadium | 40,000 | |
| India | Ahmedabad | Sardar Patel Stadium | 48,000 | |
| India | Mohali | Punjab C.A. Stadium | 40,000 | |
| India | Nagpur | Vidarbha C.A. Stadium | 40,000 | |
| Sri Lanka | Colombo | Sinhalese S.C. | 10,000 | |
