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

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.

Nagpur, Indore among other venues to miss out

Apart from Mohali's IS Bindra Stadium, Nagpur's Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium (Jamtha) and Indore's Holkar Stadium in addition to Vizag, Cuttack are among venues which have hosted fixtures of ICC tournament(s) in the past. However, they missed out on getting a game this time. Many have expressed their disappointment after being excluded from getting an opportunity to host the coveted tournament, but it is understood that the ICC took a calculated decision.

Speaking of Indore, the Holkar Stadium located on the Race Course Road is a part of the city centre, and thus, commute might become difficult for the local public, since the VIP status road will not be open for transit during the course of matches.

For Nagpur, VCA Stadium is located in Jamtha which is far from city's reach, causing difficulties in logistics for teams and organisers, which might be a possible reason of its exclusion from venues list for the tournament. While the exact reasons for exclusion were not disclosed, it is to be considered that India has more prominent cricketing venues than any other country, and thus, the ICC and the BCCI took a collective stance on host cities.