State units that missed out on World Cup games to be compensated during bilateral home season

Former cricketers Virender Sehwag and Muttiah Muralitharan along with ICC CEO Geoff Allardyce and BCCI Secretary Jay Shah pose for a photo with the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup trophy during the press conference regarding the announcement of the tournament, in Mumbai. File
| Photo Credit: ANI

The venues that missed out on getting games for the ODI World Cup will get an out-of-turn opportunity to host 50-over games in the upcoming home season.

BCCI secretary Jay Shah floated the idea of World Cup venues letting go of their turn to host ODI games in home season to compensate the state units which have missed out on hosting the coveted ICC event.

In a letter to the state units, Mr. Shah informed them that his proposal has been unanimously accepted by officials of eight World Cup venues, including Delhi, Dharamsala, Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru and Lucknow.

However, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram, which will host only warm-up games of the World Cup, will get to host matches in the upcoming season.

Mr. Shah had met with state units ahead of the World Cup schedule announcement earlier this week.

“During our meeting, I had proposed a solution to ensure a fair distribution of matches for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023. I requested the hosting associations, with the exception of Assam and Kerala, who were allocated warm-up matches, to voluntary forego their turn to host an ODI during the bilateral international season.

“This proposal was put forth in order to accommodate the state associations that unfortunately missed out on hosting matches of the Cricket World Cup.

“I am pleased to inform you that the proposal received unanimous agreement and support from all the participating associations,” Shah said in the letter accessed by PTI.

The World Cup will be held in India from October 5 to November 19.

Barring Hyderabad, all main venues will get to host five games each of the ICC 50-over showpiece.

Hyderabad will hosts two warm-up games involving Pakistan before staging three main matches from October 6.

Pakistan will play two of their league games at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Uppal.