It’s now official. The sub-continental quartet will challenge Tasmanian counterparts Australia and New Zealand in an effort to host the 2011 cricket World Cup. Late Friday evening, board chiefs of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh deliberated for two hours over various financial issues before making a joint statement.“We had a good discussion, and we all reached a consensus in bidding for the next World Cup. There are certain financial modalities to be worked out with the International Cricket Council (ICC) for which we request time till March 20,” said BCCI president Sharad Pawar. “All countries have individually informed the ICC of their interest to host it, and by tomorrow, we will be forwarding a joint bid. We will meet again on February 12 at Mohali to work on the details of the bid,” he said.Represented by Pawar (BCCI), Sahariyar Khan (PCB), Duleep Mendis (SLC) and Asghar Ali (BCB), the four nations are set to submit a partial bid to the ICC, better put as ‘compliance letter’, wherein the countries have agreed in principle over various issues including tax exemption and customs clearance. According to sources, Bangladesh could be the surprise package, probably ending up hosting matches towards the latter stage of the tournament. Bangladesh’s Cricket Development Officer, Mohammad Shakeel ul Haque told The Indian Express: “Bangladesh is a very important part of this agreement and all I can tell you right now is that we will be hosting some very important matches.”The financial issues that caused concern relates to the $10 million guarantee money per country that the ICC has promised. PCB chairman Sahariyar Khan admitted the amount is “too little and unfair for some countries (read India and Pakistan) who host a large number of matches. “One of the major reasons why we are confident of clinching this bid is because of the passion for the game in this part of the world. Also, we have jointly hosted a World Cup, so the logistics are very much in place,” Sahariyar said.The Tasmanian angleFriday’s collective bid will compete against the joint bid from Australia and New Zealand. As per initial reports, Australia was willing to bid alone before their arch-rivals New Zealand joined forces. The two are also contemplating a joint bid for 2015, if the 2011 bid fails. As per rotation rule, it’s now the turn of Australia or New Zealand to host, after Asia (India-Pak-SL) in 1996, Europe (England 1999), Africa (South Africa, Zimbabwe, Kenya) in 2002 and the Americas (West Indies) in 2007.
