World Cup opens in Dhaka
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The 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup got underway in Dhaka yesterday with a spectacular opening ceremony. The Bangladeshi capital’s 36,000-capacity Bangabandhu Stadium played host to the 14 competing nations and more than 3,500 performers, including Sonu Nigam and Canadian rock star, Bryan Adams. Bangladesh’s Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, declared the event officially open.
The BBC reported that the streets of Dhaka were relatively quiet yesterday, as the government declared a half-day public holiday so the population could watch the opening ceremony on TV.
The action gets underway tomorrow at another Dhaka venue, the Sher-e-Bangla Cricket Stadium in Mirpur, when co-hosts Bangladesh and India meet in the tournament opener. Following this, a further 37 matches will take place across 13 stadia in Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka before the final in Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium on 2 April. In India 29 matches will be played out in eight cities – Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata, Mohali, Mumbai, Nagpur and New Delhi. In Bangladesh eight matches will be played in Mirpur and Chittagong, while Sri Lanka the cities of Colombo, Hambantota and Pallekele will host a total of 12 matches. Sri Lanka’s first game will be against Kenya in Colombo on Sunday.
India are the favourites to win the World Cup and enter the tournament in good form. In their last warm up match a Mahendra Dhoni century helped India record an impressive 117-run win against New Zealand. India last won the trophy back in 1983. 1996 world champions Sri Lanka are second favourites.
Despite being outsiders, Bangladesh is hoping that hosting the country’s first major sporting tournament will boost the country in other ways. “We will be able to improve our image if we can successfully hold the opening ceremony and host the World Cup matches,” BBC Sport quoted Bangladesh Cricket Board’s President, Mostafa Kamal, as saying.
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