By: Tarish Bhatt
Just before the sad demise of BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya, the Indian Cricket Board (BCCI) had shortlisted Mumbai and Mohali as the two venues for the 2016 World T20 Championship semifinals.
According to the BCCI sources, the meeting of the World T20 organising committee had taken the decision in consultation of the bigwigs but couldn’t announce it officially due to Dalmiya’s death.
However, DrCricket7 has learnt through a reliable source that if the new management of the board decides to tweak the schedule, the already-decided venues for the World T20 could be changed.
“Whosoever takes over as the new BCCI boss, he may change the venues which are in the fray to host big matches,” a source said. A BCCI official, who was a part of the meeting that shortlisted Mumbai and Mohali for the World T20 semifinal venues, refused to confirm such a move. He insisted that the board will stick to the original schedule.
The previous managing committee, under the chairmanship of Dalmiya, had announced that Kolkata would host the World T20 final match. The board had also named — Chennai, Delhi, Nagpur, Dharamshala and Bangalore — as the venues for the ICC event, which India is supposed to host for the first time from March 11 to April 3 in 2016.
During the 2011 World Cup co-hosted by India, Mumbai had hosted the final while Mohali had staged one of the semifinals of that year’s event. Previously, Kolkata had hosted the 1996 World Cup semifinal match and also staged the 1987 World Cup final match at the famous Eden Gardens.
