BCCI Responds To 'Political Interference' Accusation Over World Cup Venues

Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) vice president Rajeev Shukla said a lot of centres and zones have been accommodated in the recently-released ICC Cricket World Cup schedule and Mohali, Punjab not getting a single match in the tournament is because the current stadium in Mohali did not meet the standards of ICC, whose consent is extremely important in finalising the venues for the tournament. Shukla's statement comes after Punjab Sports Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer had raised objections to the exclusion of Mohali from the WC schedule.

"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," Hayer had said.

Punjab Sports Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer condemns the exclusion of Mohali from the list of cities to host the ICC Cricket World Cup-2023"The exclusion of Punjab's Mohali from the list of host cities for the tournament was due to political interference. Punjab government… pic.twitter.com/R7RVCejMfE

Shukla said that this time 12 venues have been chosen for the mega cricketing event, something which has not happened before.

"For the first time, 12 venues have been chosen for World Cup. Earlier, these many venues were not chosen in previous World Cups. Out of these 12 venues, warm-up matches will be held in Trivandrum and Guwahati, remaining venues will have league matches. More centres have been accommodated.

From South Zone four venues, from central zone one venue, West Zone two, North Zone two venues. Delhi and Dharamshala will host the matches (In North Zone)," said Shukla in an exclusive interview with ANI.

Shukla said that bilateral series matches will be given to Mohali and there