The 14th edition of ICC World Cup cricket tournament will be co-hosted by three South Asian test playing counties: Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka. ICC World Cup 2011 kicks off with the opening ceremony scheduled to take place at the Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur in Bangladesh on 17 February 2011. The same venue will host the opening game of the tournament between Bangladesh and India on 19 February. Out of total 49 matches in the tournament, India will host highest 29 games including a quarter final and the tournament final. Sri Lanka will organize 12 matches including a quarter final as well as a semi final, while Bangladesh will stage 8 games including 2 quarter finals. Except the opening game, India will play all of their group stage matches at home; while Bangladesh and Sri Lanka will play the group stage matches in front of their home crowd.
India will host its first match on 20 February when Kenya and New Zealand will face each other at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk in Chennai. The first game in Sri Lanka will be held on the same day at Hambantota where Sri Lankan team will take on Canada. Pakistan was one of the co-hosts of the tournament initially, but was stripped off the host status on security ground by ICC. Pakistan will play all of their matches in Sri Lanka unless they reach the semi final. If Pakistan can get into the last four of the tournament, they have to travel to India.
Tournament Venues
All of the 49 matches will be held in 13 different venues across the three countries. Except two new venues in Sri Lanka (Hambantota and Pallekele), the rest of them are test venues including India’s 8 well-known test grounds. Here, I am giving the names of the venues:
India
MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai,
Sardar Patel Stadium, Motera, Ahmedabad,
Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground, Nagpur,
Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi,
Eden Gardens, Kolkata,
M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore,
Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali, Chandigarh,
Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai
Bangladesh
Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur, Dhaka
Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chittagong
Sri Lanka
Hambantota,
Pallekele,
R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo
Format of the Tournament
There are 14 teams who will be participating in the tournament including 10 test playing nations and 4 associate member countries. The test playing teams have automatically qualified for the tournament, while the 4 associate members have come through the qualifying tournament held in South Africa earlier this year. The four associate members are: Ireland, Canada, Netherlands and Kenya.
The format of ICC World Cup 2011 is not same to that of the previous world cup that took place in West Indies in 2007. All of the 14 teams are divided into two groups of 7 teams each. In the group stage, each team will play against all other group members once in a round robin league system.
Group A: Australia, Pakistan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Canada and Kenya
Group B: India, South Africa, England, West Indies, Bangladesh, Ireland and Netherlands.
In 2007 world cup, there was a ‘Super Eight’ phase involving 8 teams who qualified through group stage, and four best teams from ‘Super Eight’ progressed to the semi final. However, there is no super eight phase in 2011 world cup. In stead, top four teams from each group in terms of points achieved will qualify for the quarter final. There are four quarter finals scheduled to take place on 23 March, 24 March, 25 March and 26 March. That means knock out stage starts just after the group stage. Four winners of the four quarter finals will get into the semi final of the tournament. The winners of the semi finals will meet each other in the tournament final at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on 2 April 2009.
The probable reason behind the format change is perhaps to ensure that each of the participating teams play at least 6 games even if they fail to qualify for the quarter final. Last year, two test playing nations: India and Pakistan- failed to reach the ‘Super Eight’ round and had to go back home, having played only 2 matches. The early exit of the two cricket powerhouses caused huge loss for the TV channels, sponsors as well as for those who bought time slots for TV commercials beforehand to promote their products. That is why, ICC has now ensured that each of the teams will play at least 6 games in the 2011 tournament.
Here, I am giving the full schedule of the ICC World Cup 2011 tournament:
| Match | Date | Competing Teams | Time | Venue |
| No Match | Feb 17 2011 Thu | Opening Ceremony of ICC World Cup 2011 | TBA | Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur |
| Group Stage | Feb 19 2011 Sat | India vs Bangladesh | TBA | Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur |
| Feb 20 2011 Sun | Sri Lanka vs Canada | TBA | Hambantota | |
| Kenya vs New Zealand | TBA | MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai | ||
| Feb 21 2011 Mon | Australia vs Zimbabwe | TBA | Sardar Patel Stadium, Motera, Ahmedabad | |
| Feb 22 2011 Tue | England vs Netherlands | TBA | Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground, Nagpur | |
| Feb 23 2011 Wed | Kenya vs Pakistan | TBA | Hambantota | |
| Feb 24 2011 Thu | South Africa vs West Indies | TBA | Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi | |
| Feb 25 2011 Fri | Bangladesh vs Ireland | TBA | Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur | |
| Australia vs New Zealand | TBA | Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground, Nagpur | ||
| Feb 26 2011 Sat | Pakistan vs Sri Lanka | TBA | Colombo | |
| Feb 27 2011 Sun | India vs England | TBA | Eden Gardens, Kolkata | |
| Feb 28 2011 Mon | Netherlands vs West Indies | TBA | Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi | |
| Canada vs Zimbabwe | TBA | Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground, Nagpur | ||
| Mar 1 2011 Tue | Kenya vs Sri Lanka | TBA | Colombo | |
| Mar 2 2011 Wed | England vs Ireland | TBA | M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore | |
| Mar 3 2011 Thu | Canada vs Pakistan | TBA | Colombo | |
| Netherlands vs South Africa | TBA | Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali, Chandigarh | ||
| Mar 4 2011 Fri | Bangladesh vs West Indies | TBA | Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur | |
| New Zealand vs Zimbabwe | TBA | Sardar Patel Stadium, Motera, Ahmedabad | ||
| Mar 5 2011 Sat | Australia vs Sri Lanka | TBA | Colombo | |
| Mar 6 2011 Sat | India vs Ireland | TBA | M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore | |
| England vs South Africa | TBA | MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai | ||
| Mar 7 2011 Mon | Canada vs Kenya | TBA | Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi | |
| Mar 8 2011 Tue | New Zealand vs Pakistan | TBA | Pallekele | |
| Mar 9 2011 Wed | India vs Netherlands | TBA | Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi | |
| Mar 10 2011 Thu | Sri Lanka vs Zimbabwe | TBA | Pallekele | |
| Mar 11 2011 Fri | Bangladesh vs England | TBA | Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chittagong | |
| Ireland vs West Indies | TBA | Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali, Chandigarh | ||
| Mar 12 2011 Sat | India vs South Africa | TBA | Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground, Nagpur | |
| Mar 13 2011 Sun | Canada vs New Zealand | TBA | Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai | |
| Australia vs Kenya | TBA | M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore | ||
| Mar 14 2011 Mon | Bangladesh vs Netherlands | TBA | Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chittagong | |
| Pakistan vs Zimbabwe | TBA | Pallekele | ||
| Mar 15 2011 Tue | Ireland vs South Africa | TBA | Eden Gardens, Kolkata | |
| Mar 16 2011 Wed | Australia vs Canada | TBA | M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore | |
| Mar 17 2011 Thu | England vs West Indies | TBA | MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai | |
| Mar 18 2011 Fri | New Zealand vs Sri Lanka | TBA | Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai | |
| Ireland vs Netherlands | TBA | Eden Gardens, Kolkata | ||
| Mar 19 2011 Sat | Bangladesh vs South Africa | TBA | Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur | |
| Australia vs Pakistan | TBA | Colombo | ||
| Mar 20 2011 Sun | Kenya vs Zimbabwe | TBA | Eden Gardens, Kolkata | |
| India vs West Indies | TBA | MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai | ||
| Quarter Final | Mar 23 2011 Sat | TBA vs TBA | TBA | Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur |
| Mar 24 2011 Thu | TBA vs TBA | TBA | Colombo | |
| Mar 25 2011 Fri | TBA vs TBA | TBA | Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur | |
| Mar 26 2011 Sat | TBA vs TBA | TBA | Sardar Patel Stadium, Motera, Ahmedabad | |
| Semi Final | Mar 29 2011 Tue | TBA vs TBA | TBA | Colombo |
| Mar 30 2011 Wed | TBA vs TBA | TBA | Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali, Chandigarh | |
| Final | Apr 2 2011 Sat | TBA vs TBA | TBA | Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai |
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