All eyes would be on India now as it gets ready to co-host the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup along with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. In 2010, it had single-handedly successfully hosted the XIXth Commonwealth Games. The mega cricketing event comes to the sub-continent once again, when it gets off to a rousing start on February 19, 2011 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur, Dhaka, when co-hosts India and Bangladesh clash. Due to security concerns, the ICC stripped Pakistan of hosting the game. 

Oozing lot of confidence, Indian captain MS Dhoni said that for the first time they would start off as home favourites and not as underdogs. He said that the team had been playing under pressure but with responsibility. The Indian captain said that they would stick to the basics and do well as there was lot of potential.

Earlier, the headquarters of the organising committee was based in Lahore, which was then moved to Mumbai. Pakistan lost its hosting right after the Sri Lankan cricket team was attacked by terrorists in 2009. The 14 matches, including one semi-final scheduled to be held in Pakistan have been moved to India (8), Sri Lanka (4) and Bangladesh (2). There are murmurs that ICC has also called for the shifting of the tie between India-England in Kolkata to Bangalore as the Eden Garden wasn’t ready to host the game. This is a setback to the majority of Kolkattan fans, where the stadium has a seating capacity for nearly a lakh.

ccording to ICC, it wants to rotate World Cup venues between major cricket playing nations. England has hosted the World Cup three times - 1975,1979,1983 – when India won under the captainship of Kapil Dev, India and Pakistan hosted jointly in 1987, Australia & New Zealand in 1992, India, Pakistan & Sri Lanka in 1996, England (UK & Netherlands) in 1999, South Africa (with Zimbabwe & Kenya) in 2003 and West Indies in 2007. Australia & New Zealand were strong contenders for hosting the World Cup, but the scales tilted towards India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh and now the next World Cup would be held in Australia & New Zealand in 2015.

Game Format: In this year’s World Cup, there are 14 teams competing and they have been divided into two groups. The first round of the tournament would be a round-robin, where each team plays the other once and the top four teams from each group qualify for the quarter-finals. Under the new format, each team would play six matches even if they are out of the tournament due to early losses.

The nations in Team A are: Australia, Kenya, Canada, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. Team B comprises of India, Bangladesh, England, Ireland, Netherlands, South Africa and West Indies.

Great Sachin: A look into the World Cup history and records speaks volumes of the cricketing little master Sachin Tendulkar. The India team under MS Dhoni is planning to win the event asa tribute to the little master, who would be playing the sixth World Cup. The master blaster has many records to his credit. Named as Wisden Cricketer of the year in 1997, Tendulkar has scores of fifty and hundreds to his name totalling1796 runs.

Australia’s Glenn McGrath who has starred in four World Cups dominates the bowling records. He has taken the highest number of wickets with a better economy rate. The individual fielding records are held by Australia’s Ricky Ponting and Adam Gilchrist. The Australian wicketkeeper also holds the record of the most dismissals in a single game. It was under his leadership that Deccan Chargers won the second IPL league. Other records held by World Cup defenders Team Oz includes most wins, highest win percentage and most consecutive wins.

Among those who hold poor records are Canada for the lowest score, Zimbabwe for the number of matches lost, and Canada’s Nicholas De Groots failed to score in three matches.

Three Matches Tied: The World Cup has also seen three tied matches. The first was witnessed in the 1999 semi-final, in which a run out in the final over with just one run required prevented South Africa from moving into the finals. Australia, who was the opponent against South Africa, moved in because of their head-to-head record.

The second tied match occurred due to the Duckworth-Lewis method in 2003, in South Africa, when the hosts went down to Sri Lanka. The South African batsmen believed that they had reached their required target and blocked the last ball to avoid losing wickets when the sky opened up. They misread the score and it ended in a tie preventing South Africa from advancing. The third tie occurred between Ireland and Zimbabwe at Kingston in 2007.

India holds record in highest total, when they scored 413 runs against Bermuda in 2007 and also equalled the record for most sixes. They scored 18 in the game. Another interesting fact is that Anderson Cummins and Kepler Wessels have played for two different countries in the World Cup.

Awards mean recognition and winning it in the final game means creating a history. The players to have won the Man of the Match Awards in the final games are as follows:

• 1975 - Clive Lloyd 102 runs
• 1979 – Viv Richards 138 n.o.
• 1983 - Mohinder Amarnath – 3 for 12, 26
• 1987 – David Boon – 75
• 1992 – Wasim Akram – 33, 3 for 49
• 1996 – Aravinda De Silva – 107 n.o. and 3 for 42
• 1999 – Shane Warne – 4 for 33
• 2003 – Ricky Ponting – 140 not out
• 2007 – Adam Gilchrist – 149

In 1992, the ICC instituted another award called the player of the tournament. It has been won by the following players:

• 1992 – Martin Crowe – 456 runs
• 1996 – Sanath Jayasuriya – 221 runs & 7 wickets
• 1999 – Lance Klusener – 281 runs, 17 wickets
• 2003 – Sachin Tendulkar – 673 runs, 2 wickets
• 2007 – Glenn McGrath – 26 wickets 

In the category of umpires, Steve Bucknor has umpired in five finals, from 1992 to 2007 that is two matches less than David Shepherd. There are many more records in the World Cup cricket,but let us wait and see how many records are created in the upcoming game. 

Cricket Mascot: When India hosted the IXth Asiad Games in Delhi in 1982, the mascot was an elephant called Appu, and the mascot for 2011 World Cup is also an elephant called Stumpy. Cricketing giants Sachin Tendulkar, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Kumar Sangakara unveiled the mascot in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on April 2, 2010.

The mascot was selected after a contest.
The final of the World Cup would take place on 2 April 2011 at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, thus bringing the excitement to an end and the wait for the beginning of the Indian Premier League season.

All those of you who have your exams, plan your studies and stay tuned to the excitement.

9 Feb      2:00pm       IND vs BAN        Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur
20 Feb    9:30am       NZ vs KEN          MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai
20 Feb    2:30pm        SL vs CAN         Mahinda Rajapaksa International                                   
   

Cricket Stadium, Hambantota

21 Feb  2:30pm        AUS vs ZIM                    Sardar Patel Gujarat Stadium, Motera
22 Feb  2:30pm        ENG vs NED                 Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground, Nagpur
23 Feb  2:30pm   PAK vs KEN       Mahinda Rajapaksa International  Cricket Stadium,                                                      Hambantota 7
24 Feb  2:30pm        SA vs WI                  Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi
25 Feb  9:30am          AUS vs NZ               Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground, Nagpur
25 Feb  2pm               BAN vs IRE             Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur
26 Feb  2:30pm           PAK vs SL                  R.Premadasa Stadium, Colombo
27 Feb  2:30pm           IND vs ENG             Eden Gardens, Kolkata
28 Feb  9:30am           ZIM vs CAN            Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground, Nagpur
28 Feb  2:30pm           WI vs NED            Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi
1 Mar  2:30pm              SL vs KEN           R.Premadasa Stadium, Colombo
2 Mar  2:30pm               ENG vs IRE        M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru
3 Mar  9:30am               SA vs NED           Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali
3 Mar  2:30pm               PAK vs CAN        R.Premadasa Stadium, Colombo
4 Mar  9:30am               NZ vs ZIM            Sardar Patel Gujarat Stadium, Motera
4 Mar  2:00pm               BAN vs WI           Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur
5 Mar  2:30pm                AUS vs SL          R.Premadasa Stadium, Colombo
6 Mar  9:30am               SA vs ENG          MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai