A total of 10 venues have been selected to host matches for this historic ICC event, making it the largest-ever tournament in terms of venues. Apart from Ahmedabad, the other seven host cities include Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Dharamsala, Hyderabad, Lucknow and Pune.

However, the exclusion of certain major venues has left officials disappointed. Indore’s Holkar Stadium, which has a rich cricketing history and regularly hosts international matches, expressed disappointment at not being included. The Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association’s president, Abhilash Khandekar, expressed his regret over Indore missing out on a World Cup fixture, recalling that the city had hosted a match in 1987.

Similarly, Mohali, which has been hosting World Cup matches since 1996 and witnessed the high-octane India-Pakistan semi-final in 2011, did not make the cut this time. The Punjab Cricket Association source expressed disappointment at the exclusion, pointing out that it seemed only cities with influential office bearers had been chosen.

Meanwhile, Punjab Sports Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer suggested that politics might have played a role in the decision, expressing sadness that a stadium that produced many Indian cricket superstars did not receive a single match.

“The exclusion of Punjab’s Mohali from the list of host cities for the tournament was due to political interference. The Punjab government will raise this issue with the BCCI,” Hayer told ANI.