2011 World Cup Launched with Fanfare

Clive Lloyd, Aravinda de Silva, Michael Bevan, Dilip Vengsarkar and Balwinder Sandhu with the World Cup 2011 Trophy

Mumbai: The 2011 World Cup, to be hosted in the sub-continent, was on Tuesday launched with all the fanfare by the International Cricket Council 
 
with a member each from most of the previous winners present along with ICC vice-president Sharad Pawar and Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat.

Clive Lloyd, the captain of the West Indies sides that won in 1975 and 1979 in England, India's 1983 winning-team members Balwinder Sandhu and Dilip Vengsarkar, Sri Lanka's Aravinda D'Silva who played a major role in the 1996 Cup winning squad and Michael Bevan of Australia who was part of the team that won the crown in 1999 and 2003 were those present.

The sound and laser show that showcased the key moments of all the previous World Cups was a breathtaking affair.

Lorgat sought to dispel fears of One-day format being overtaken by the huge popularity of the Twenty20 version saying that the limited overs World Cup continued to be ICC's showpiece event.

"The (50-over) World Cup is the flagship event of the ICC. What we have will hold up in the future," he announced to the audience which had several former Mumbai-based Test cricketers including Ajit Wadekar, Bapu Nadkarni and Umesh Kulkarni.

Lorgat also said that the 2011 World Cup would be over in 40-plus dates and would involve 14 teams.

Pawar, the chairman of the 2011 World Cup Organising Committee, announced that the Indian board has decided to keep the ticket prices at affordable rates to encourage the student community to witness the matches and reiterated that Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium would host the final.

"The Indian board has decided to keep the rates of the tickets low to encourage the student community. We don't want to make too much money out of gates. This has come after what we saw in the West Indies (during the 2007 World Cup)," he added.

The last World Cup was played in front of a lot of empty seats.

Pawar also said that Pakistan, which would not hold any matches, would continue to be part of the organizational set-up.

"I'm upset that a major partner Pakistan is not organising a match due to unfortunate circumstances. They will be very much part of the organising committee and would help organize the World Cup in a dignified manner," he said.

Pakistan's representative -- PCB's cricket operations manager -- Zakir Khan took part in the ceremony though he did not attend the meeting of the World Cup Central Organising Committee which preceded it.

Recalling the first two World Cups that he guided the West Indies to victory as captain, Lloyd said in 1975 the limited overs game was in its infancy and to that extent his team can be considered as the pioneers of driving it forward.

"The West Indies has a population of only five million people and to be crowned the best in the world was an achievement," he said.

Sandhu brought the roof down with his comments that the biggest mistake that Lloyd and his men made while playing against India in the final at the Lord's in June 1983 was to hit him on the head with a bouncer.

"The biggest mistake that the West Indies made was to hit a 'Sardar' on the head with a bouncer. Now we have two Sardars in the Indian team, Yuvraj Singh (who was part of the audience) and Harbhajan Singh. And Sachin Tendulkar wants to be part of a World Cup winning squad. If he remains fit India will win the next World Cup," he said.

Sandhu said that the 1983 title triumph was a turning point in Indian cricket as it gave the players the confidence that they can beat the best in the world.

"We then went on to win the Benson and Hedges World Championships in Australia in 1985 and the Twenty20 World Championship (in 2007)," he recollected.

He also said that he has kept the winners' medal in his safe. "It's a very precious thing for me," he pointed out.

Aravinda, who played a match-winning knock of 100 besides taking three wickets in the 1996 final at Lahore against Australia, considered both the feats with the bat and ball as important and complimented the entire team led by Arjuna Ranatunga for the triumph.

"It was a great team effort. We had a strong batting line up with the openers (Sanath Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwitharana) followed by Roshan (Mahanama), Asanka (Gurusinha) and Arjuna which gave me the opportunity to play my natural game," he said.

Bevan, considered among the finest finishers the one-day game has seen, said that though he batted at number six like Yuvraj Singh had done for India earlier, their batting styles were different.

"We had to win seven games in a row and we treated every game as a final," he recalled about Australia's performance in the 1999 World Cup held in England.

He also remembered the sad part of losing seven shirts with the autographs of players when he returned home. "I had kept the coffin (kit bag) outside as I did not want to spoil the new white carpet at my home. When I returned to pick it up it had been stolen," he said.

Asked about the winners' medal, Bevan said it was in his garage.

Addressing the media after the formal launch of the 2011 World Cup, Lorgat ruled out any further possibility of Pakistan still hosting any matches but re-iterated that the PCB will get the hosting fees.

"No possibility (of hosting any match). Pakistan can choose to hold the World Cup with the other three hosting boards," Lorgat said.

"The decision (to pay Pakistan hosting fees) was taken by all the four co-hosts and even the Pakistan representative was present. They will get three quarter million US dollars per match for 14 matches," he said.

On Pakistan going to court after it was stripped of 2011 WC hosting rights, Lorgat said, "I think perhaps they are not that well advised. They should be engaged in dialogue to sort out the issues and not get into legal issues."

The ICC CEO said the Champions Trophy will be held every four years after this year's edition in September and the Twenty20 World Championship will be held in April 2010 to get the scheduling right.

He said Twenty20 World Cup will not overshadow limited overs World Cup. "You cannot compare the World Cup with the T20 World Cup," he said.

Prof Shetty said Wankhede Stadium renovation work will be completed by October 2010 and it will start hosting matches in December 2010-January 2011.