Mumbai To Host 2011 Final

Despite questions raised around security, Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium will stage the final of the 2011 Cricket World Cup, which is being co-hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

The Indian board has named the eight venues for the 29 matches it is hosting – including Mohali, which will stage one of the semi-finals.

Eden Gardens in Kolkata, which has not hosted a one-day international since 2007, will stage four games.

The other venues are Ahmedabad, New Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore and Nagpur.

Sri Lanka will host 12 games, while Bangladesh will stage eight matches, as well as the opening ceremony in Dhaka on 18 February.

Pakistan was orginally scheduled to co-host, but were forced to bow out by the International Cricket Council earlier this year because of security problems in the country.

The full schedule for the tournament is due to be announced in Mumbai next month, while the two groups of seven teams were recently announced in a revised format following criticism of the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies.

Teams will play everyone in their group once, with the top four teams in each group qualifying for the quarter-finals – making a total of 49 games.