Cities sidelined, the Pakistan dilemma: How BCCI’s playing politics in the World Cup schedule

The final schedule of the 2023 World Cup cricket tournament is out, and this writer has already heard voices of dissent from major cricket centres that have either been ignored or given a raw deal by the Jay Shah-controlled BCCI.

India will host the World Cup from October 5 to November 19 at 10 venues. Over the course of 46 days, 45 league games and three play-off games will be played in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Dharamshala, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai and Pune.

The World Cup semifinals will be played at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens and Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium. Mumbai had also hosted the final of the 2011 World Cup, in which an MS Dhoni-led India beat Sri Lanka to end a 28-year-old title drought, while Kolkata hosted the summit showdown between Australia and England in the 1987 edition.

 What this means is the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai – a favourite until the very last hour – has lost out on hosting the showpiece semifinal this time around. A BCCI insider told this writer the weather is being offered as an excuse, because “the retreating monsoon is a serious threat in Chennai during that time of the year”. 

Another big loser is Punjab’s Mohali Stadium, which hosted the iconic India vs Pakistan semifinal, witnessed by the prime ministers of both countries, during the 2011 World Cup.

But there is a common factor between both these venues. Both are located in states governed by anti-BJP parties. While MK Stalin refuses to play ball with the BJP at the centre, Punjab’s Aam Aadmi Party government has been at loggerheads with the Modi government ever since it came to power in Punjab and, for that matter, Delhi.

Interestingly, Maharashtra is the one state where two venues – Mumbai and Pune – have been chosen to host this prestigious tournament. This may have political intent too, since mid-term polls may take place soon and the BJP has key stakes here. 

In the case of Bengal, it has been reliably learned that Jay Shah played a key role in ensuring that Kolkata got one of the semis. Is it also because his father, union home minister Amit Shah, has special interest in the politics of the state?

Another important state being ignored is Madhya Pradesh, where the state cricket body is controlled by civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia. And we’ve heard talks of a political rift between Scindia and local BJP leaders ahead of the assembly election in the state. 

Delhi’s Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium, officially the Arun Jaitley Stadium, has also got a raw deal with no high-flying games allotted to this capital city venue. The AAP-governed capital will host five games, all of a low-key nature, including India’s most inconsequential game against Afghanistan. 

Perhaps another factor in sidelining Delhi is the ongoing internal fight between the Delhi & District Cricket Association’s president Rohan Jaitley and its secretary Siddharth Verma. Rohan, the son of former finance minister Arun Jaitley, is accused of sexual harassment, with the complainant filing her complaint with BCCI top bosses including secretary Jay Shah, president Roger Binny and National Cricket Academy chief VVS Laxman.  

Verma, the son of late Delhi chief minister Sahib Singh Verma, is leaving no stone unturned to expose Rohan in the ongoing tussle. So far, the BCCI has kept quiet on the entire issue even as the sons of its two former leaders are refusing to sit together. Verma’s faction has now asked for police protection to sit on a dharna against their own president in the first week of July.

Pakistan factor

Pakistan is scheduled to play in only five cities: Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai and Kolkata.

In the event Pakistan and India advance to the semifinals, there are still certain ifs and buts.

In the first scenario, Mumbai will host the match on November 15 if India advances to the final four. In the second scenario, the match will take place in Kolkata on November 16 if Pakistan also advances to the final four and faces off against India.

The final itself, expectedly, will be played at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium on November 19. If there’s an India-Pakistan high-voltage encounter, the choice of Ahmedabad is somewhat in doubt. All eyes will be on the Pakistan Cricket Board’s response and whether the Pakistan government decides to intervene, just as India has refused to send its team to the neighbouring country for so many years. 

It’s important to mention here that the PCB election takes place on July 17, increasing the ambiguity surrounding the World Cup venue and even the team’s participation in the World Cup. 

According to a BCCI insider, there’s a back-up plan in case of last-minute complications over an India-Pakistan game in Ahmedabad. In that case, Chennai could well be the automatic choice for the International Cricket Council to host such a high-voltage game. Pakistan had also mentioned Chennai and Kolkata as two preferred venues during the discussions leading up to the World Cup schedule. 

Given that one of the two semifinal games will be played at Eden Gardens, Chennai is in line to take over if something goes wrong in Ahmedabad. Pakistan prefers Chennai over other centres simply because of the way the local crowd there gave a standing ovation to the Wasim Akram-led team during the 1999 Test match.

10 teams, 10 venues

The league round will include 10 teams competing against one another once, with the top four teams advancing to the semifinals. The format remains the same as it was in 2019.

India qualified for the event as host while Afghanistan, Australia, England, Bangladesh, New Zealand, Pakistan and South Africa made it by finishing in the top eight of the 2020-2023 World Cup Super League. The remaining two teams will be identified during the ongoing World Cup qualifiers currently being played in Zimbabwe. In the fray for these two spots are Sri Lanka, West Indies, Ireland, Nepal, the Netherlands, Oman, Scotland, UAE, the US and Zimbabwe.

India will travel the most of the 10 teams, playing in nine of the 10 venues. India takes on Afghanistan in Delhi on October 11, Pakistan in Ahmedabad on October 15, Bangladesh in Pune on October 19, New Zealand in Dharamshala on October 22, England in Lucknow on October 29, a qualifier in Mumbai on November 2, South Africa in Kolkata on November 5, and another qualifier in Bengaluru on November 11, which is the penultimate day of the league stage.

Now, all eyes will turn to the PCB. Will it try to flex its muscles to push India to tour Pakistan in the near future? There’s hardly any doubt about Pakistan’s participation in the World Cup, especially when their team under Babar Azam is playing good cricket all around the world. The only question is, will they agree to play in Ahmedabad or not?