Cricket: Why did Punjab not get a World Cup match?

When the International Cricket Council announced the schedule of the upcoming ICC World Cup 2023 in India, there was an uproar as allegations of certain venues being given special treatment at the cost of the existing well served venues flew thick.

The Punjab Cricket Association, which had earned over the years a reputation of being an automatic choice for prestigious competitions like World Cup, cried foul over the schedule of matches. The Punjab Government lent its shoulder to the sobbing PCA by taking the ICC to task for ignoring the claims of the State in hosting some of the games of the prestigious World Cup.

The PCA Stadium in Mohali continues to be rated as one of the best cricketing centres in the world.

The Punjab Sports Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer  was furious over denial of World Cup matches to the State. He strongly objected to Mohali’s PCA Stadium not getting any game in ICC Cricket World Cup. “It has been due to political interference that Mohali didn’t get to host any game in the tournament,” he told the media.

Punjab Cricket Association also has its new cricket centre at Mullanpur in the periphery of Chandigarh, ready for making its international debut. Even the oldest cricket venue, Sector 16 Cricket Stadium in Chandigarh, too is struggling to get back on the international cricket match. It has been renovated and upgraded but still was not found suitable for a World Cup match.

Haryana, too, lost its claim as its main centre at Faridabad has not held any significant international event in the recent past.

Punjab and Chandigarh loss is the total gain of Himachal Pradesh. Being the youngest Cricket Association in the North, it has got five matches. There are nine venues that will host to five matches each while Hyderabad will hold three 2023 World Cup matches.

Incidentally, India is hosting, for the first time, this 10-teams 48-match tournament on its own. Gone are the days, when it used to have Pakistan, Sri Lanka or Bangladesh as co-hosts.

Initially, the event was supposed to take place from  February 9 to  March 26 early this year, but the dates were moved to October and November 2023, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

It is for the first time that India is hosting the tournament on its own after having co-hosted previous tournaments in 1987 (with Pakistan), 1996 (with Pakistan and Sri Lanka), and 2011 (with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh).

The tournament will commence on October 5  with defending champions England taking on 2019 edition runner-up New Zealand at Narendra Modi Cricket Stadium in Ahmedabad. India will start its campaign on  October 8 against Australia at  MA Chidambaram (Chepauk) Stadium in Chennai.

Though the  BCCI vice-president Rajiv Shukla claimed that the PCA stadium in Mohali did not meet the standards of the ICC, whose consent was crucial for choosing the venues, it evoked strong reactions from cricket lovers all over the region.

“If this centre was good enough to hold the World Cup semi-finals and several other internationals of all formats of the game, how come it fails to meet international standards. Let him specify the standards PCA Stadium fails to meet,” quipped a senior cricket player.

Rajiv Shukla said, “ For the first time, 12 venues have been chosen for the World Cup. Earlier, these many venues were not chosen in previous World Cups. Out of these 12 venues, warm-up matches will be held in Trivandrum and Guwahati, remaining will have league matches.”

Rajiv Shukla also added, “Virat Kohli’s 100th test was given to Mohali. Mullanpur Stadium is getting ready in Mohali. Had it been ready, they would have got a World Cup match. The current stadium in Mohali did not meet the standards of ICC and hence was denied matches. Bilateral series games will be given to them”. Delhi and Dharamshala will be hosting 5 games each in the World Cup league round. Rajiv Shukla also thinks that this World Cup will pave the way for the revival of the ODI format in Cricket.

Comments and clarifications by Rajiv Shukla notwithstanding, the fact remains that certain games and sports come to be identified with certain cities and venues. If Roland Garros, Wimbledon, Flushing Meadows are known as Tennis Grand Slam centres, cricket, too, moves on the same lines. One cannot imagine Lords or the Oval in England, or Melbourne Cricket Ground (CG) or Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) or Sabina Ground in the West Indies being ignored in case big cricket travelled to these countries. Same is the case with Indian cricket. It is difficult to visualise international  cricket without Eden Gardens, Chepauk, Wankhede Stadium, PCA Stadium or Kotla  being chosen as automatic venues.

Incidentally, Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad and the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamsala are recent inductions to the Indian cricket map, compared to PCA Stadium in Mohali and Bishen Bedi Stadium in Jalandhar.

Team India won the last edition in 2011, when India hosted the tournament, and it was the captain MS Dhoni who led the team to glory at home. Thus, it will be a big chance for the Indians to end their trophy drought, which is growing bigger after every ICC tournament.

The World Cup 2023 that will see a total of ten teams taking part in the tournament, will be without former World Cup champions West Indies. West Indies crashed out of the tournament in the Qualifier at Harare in Zimbabwe losing for the first time to Scotland.

After the exit of West Indies, the fight has become more severe between the remaining teams, including Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and Scotland. Only two teams will get through. Eight teams – Australia, England, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and hosts India – have already qualified.

England and New Zealand, who played in the final of the 2019 edition, will face each other in the first game of the tournament on October 5 at the Narendra Modi Stadium. India will open its campaign on October 8 against Australia in Chennai.