While India struggle to get ready for next month's Commonwealth Games in Delhi, organisers for next year's cricket World Cup in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have struck an altogether more confident note. Organisers have targeted the end of November for the final preparations for the venues, tournament director Ratnakar Shetty told Reuters in an interview.
"In some cases it may be extended to the end of December but that is the deadline," he insisted. "The ICC team and the entire team of organisers will be visiting all 13 venues starting from November 18."
The quadrennial event will be played across 13 venues with eight in India, three in Sri Lanka and two in Bangladesh, from February 19 to April 2 next year. Three stadiums in India - the Wankhede in Mumbai, the Eden Gardens in Kolkata and the MA Chidambaram in Chennai - are undergoing major facelifts.
"Out of the three venues undergoing development, Kolkata and Chennai already have the playing surface ready. The wickets are ready so there are no issues," said Shetty. "The only concern is how Mumbai comes up with respect to the playing surface. We are looking at the end of November for Wankhede to stage some Ranji Trophy matches."
Commonwealth Games organisers have come under fire with team officials complaining about sub-standard accommodation facilities for athletes with missed deadlines compounding the problems. Cricket organisers pledged they will not take any chances. "We have closed all our logistic issues. We have finalised the airlines, a major concern as teams will be flying in and out of the three countries," said Shetty.
"The accommodation issues are resolved in all three countries and so also the ground transport. We have closed on all these issues by the end of August." Shetty strongly defended India's credentials as hosts. "The country has already hosted two cricket World Cups and a Asian Games successfully. So if anybody has any doubt about India's ability to host world events, they are living in a fool's paradise," he said.
He refused, however, to criticise Commonwealth Games organisers for the sorry state of affairs, with 11 days left for the October 3-14 event. "We have to be fair to them. Infrastructure wise, preparations are much different and much larger for the Games as compared to the cricket World Cup. For CWG, they had to start from the scratch," Shetty said.
"If at all there was a problem, I think they started late with the stadiums." Pakistan were also scheduled to co-host the event but were stripped of the hosting rights due to the deteriorating security situation in the country. Shetty did not deny that militancy posed a serious security threat to the event.
"It's a problem we are facing particularly in the sub-continent over the years. The focus is on making the participating nations comfortable in terms of our government support," he said. "Security has become an important part in the organisation of this event and every country has appointed a security advisor. "We are working with the national governments and state governments in each of the venues to ensure that the event takes place in the best manner possible."
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