Exclusion of Mohali from list of host cities for ODI World Cup is due to political interference: Punjab Sports Minister

ICC Logo for ICC ODI World Cup 2023 . (Photo Source: ICC)

The BCCI and the ICC officially announced the eagerly-anticipated schedule of the 2023 ODI World Cup on Tuesday, June 27, with as many as 10 cities confirmed to host the mega event. However, Punjab Sports Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer expressed his disappointment with BCCI for not including Mohali as one of the host venues for the competition.

Notably, the IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali hosted three matches in the 2011 World Cup when India co-hosted the event along with Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. However, all hopes were dashed for the fans in Mohali as the venue failed to get any matches in the forthcoming ODI marquee event. With this, Gurmeet Singh cited ‘political interference’ which has likely caused Mohali’s exclusion from the list of host cities.

While strongly condemning the exclusion of Mohali from the list of host cities in the schedule released for the ODI Cricket #WorldCup2023 to be held in India in the month of October-November this year, Sports Minister @Meet_Hayer has described this decision (1/2) pic.twitter.com/yfL68J0dQX

— Government of Punjab (@PunjabGovtIndia) June 27, 2023

“The exclusion of Punjab’s Mohali from the list of host cities for the tournament was due to political interference. Punjab government will raise this issue with BCCI,” he said according to the video posted by the Government of Punjab.

Based on the rotational system, ICC consent is important: BCCI Vice President

BCCI vice-president Rajiv Shukla broke his silence on Mohali’s exclusion, as he stated that no ‘picking and choosing’ has been done and it is ICC’s consent that is needed to be taken into consideration.

“Mullanpur Stadium is getting ready in Mohali. Had it been ready, they would have got a World Cup match. It is based on rotational system. No picking and choosing has been done. ICC’s consent is important in finalising the venues. It’s not that any centre/zone has been ignored. Stadiums have been chosen after a lot of consideration,” Rajiv Shukla told in an interview as quoted by HT.

The ODI World Cup is scheduled to kickstart on October 5, with the entirety of the competition to be played in India. The curtain raiser of the tournament commences with a repeat of the 2019 final as defending champions England lock horns with New Zealand, at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Hosts team India will play their first match against Australia in Chennai on October 8.