BCCI announces 2011 World Cup schedule

BCCI announces 2011 World Cup scheduleThe Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has unveiled the schedule of the India's share of matches at the 2011 World Cup which will be organized by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh jointly. The full schedule of the mega cricket event will be announced on 9th November in Mumbai.

India will host 29 matches of the 2011 World cup to be played in February-March 2011. These matches of 14-nation tournament will be played at eight different venues in India.

The final match will be hosted by Mumbai while one semifinal will be played in Mohali. Mumbai and Mohali will also host two more matches each in the league phase. Ahmedabad will stage three matches including one quarterfinal match. New Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Nagpur and Kolkata will host four matches each.

The tournament will feature 49 matches and Sri Lanka and Bangladesh will host 12 and 8 matches respectively as Pakistan was removed as a co-host of the 2011 World Cup by ICC due to security reasons. Bangladesh will host opening ceremony on February 18.

All the teams have been divided into two groups of seven teams each and four teams from each group will qualify for the quarterfinal. Group A includes Australia, Pakistan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Canada and Kenya while Group B features India, South Africa, England, West Indies, Bangladesh, Ireland and the Netherlands.