Selection of venues for the upcoming ODI World CUP to be held in the country between October 5 and November 18 next, has raised more questions than answers. While some venues will host several matches, some traditionally important venues like Mohali, which had hosted the high-voltage semi-final clash between India and Pakistan in 2011, have been completely ignored. Moreover, only one warm up game will be played in Guwahati, despite the fact that the popularity of cricket is ever increasing in the Northeastern region. From the selection of venues, it is quite evident that the top board officials have favoured their own states/cities, ignoring the rightful claims of others.
For a while now, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the apex body of cricket in the country, has been using rotation policy while selecting venues for matches of all formats with the view of providing a chance to all member organisations to host international matches. This is why many international cricket stadiums have come up even in smaller cities. There was a formula by which one could easily identify which venues would be selected for upcoming series. But this time for reasons better known to apex body officials, BCCI did not follow the rotation policy and instead selected only ten cities to host the world cup matches. The BCCI could have included a few other venues to host the world cup matches by reducing the numbers of matches to be played at places like Dharamshala or Lucknow, however by opting only for favoured venues, the organisers have denied a chance to thousands of cricket lovers in the country from watching the highest-level battle between bat and ball by taking away the chance to be present at the stadium.
Additionally, by selecting only 10 cities of the country, BCCI has hugely restricted the chance of developing cricketing infrastructure in the country. As a matter of fact, the mega international sporting events are organised with the motive of boosting the infrastructure of a particular city or region. For instance, the civic and sporting infrastructures in Delhi have improved vastly by hosting the Asian Games in 1982 and the Commonwealth Games in 2010. The Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan also known as the Salt Lake stadium in Kolkata has become an international-level football stadium courtesy of the U-17 FIFA World Cup final which was held there. Similarly, BCCI had the opportunity to upgrade some cricket stadiums in the country to the international level. Instead, it has decided to bank primarily on already established ones ignoring its responsibility of spreading the game throughout the country. The BCCI could well have awarded atleast another warm up game to a Northeastern state as such a step would be helping in developing another cricket stadium in the region apart from Guwahati. Ironically, Dharamshala recently could not host a Test match as the outfield was not ready, but quite amazingly it will host four world cup games. As BCCI executives are never available for explanations, the reasons behind the bizarre selection of venues will never be known.
