 The ICC has announced the World Cup schedule for the 2011 edition in Mumbai.
According to this schedule, India will open the campaign against Bangladesh
at Mirpur on the 19th of February. India will play the remaining five of its league
stage games in India itself.
Sri Lanka will have a new venue hosting the country's first game, and this
will be a ground at Hambantota. Their first game will be played on the 20th
of February. Pakistan will also play all their games in Sri Lanka, and
will open their campaign against Kenya at the same ground in Hambantota.
Following their game against Bangladesh, India will play England, Ireland,
Netherlands, South Africa, and West Indies in Eden Gardens in Kolkata, M. Chinnaswamy
in Bangalore, Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi, VCA in Nagpur and Chepauk in Chennai
respectively.
There are 14 teams playing in the tournament. These 14 will be divided into
two groups of seven each, which will mean that each team plays six games each.
Every side in the tournament plays a minimum of six games. These will form a
part of the first round. The top four sides in each of the two groups will then
move into the quarter-finals and this will be followed by the semi-finals and
the finals. The format is a far cry from what had been the case in the previous
World Cup, where the 16 sides were divided into four groups of four each. They
would then play a round-robin league in each group, with the top two sides qualifying
for the next round.
The next round would again be a round-robin, unlike this time around, which
is a knock-out.
The quarter-finals will be played at Mirpur in Bangladesh (2), Colombo in Sri Lanka and Motera in Ahmedabad. Colombo and Mohali will host the semi-finals,
whereas the finals will be played in the newly constructed Wankhede stadium.
The final will be played on the 2nd of April.
Pakistan, which was earlier a co-host, but had opted out due to security concerns
will play all its games in Sri Lanka. They will open their campaign against
Kenya at Hambantota, which will be followed by the game against Sri Lanka in
Colombo.
The first group has India, England, West Indies, South Africa, Bangladesh,
Netherlands and Ireland. The second group will consist of Australia, Pakistan,
New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Canada and Kenya.
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