The 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup was the tenth Cricket World Cup. It was played in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, the latter hosting World Cup matches for the first time. India defeated Sri Lanka by six wickets in the final at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, thus becoming the first country to win the Cricket World Cup final on home soil.Sri Lanka won the 1996 World Cup as co-hosts, but the final was played in Pakistan. India's Yuvraj Singh was declared the player of the tournament. This was the first time in World Cup history that two Asian teams had contested the final. It was also the first time since the 1992 World Cup that the final did not feature Australia.

Fourteen national cricket teams took part in this tournament, including 10 full members and four associate members of the International Cricket Council (ICC). The opening ceremony was held on 17 February 2011 at National Stadium, Dhaka, and the tournament was played from 19 February to 2 April. The first match was played between India and Bangladesh at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur, Dhaka.

Pakistan was also scheduled to be a co-host, but after the 2009's terrorist attack on the Sri Lanka national cricket team in Lahore, the ICC cancelled that, and the headquarters of the organising committee, originally in Lahore, was transferred to Mumbai. Pakistan was to have held 14 matches, including one semi-final. Eight of the games (including the semi-final) were awarded to India, four to Sri Lanka, and two to Bangladesh.

Host selection The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced on 30 April 2006 which countries would host the 2011 World Cup. Australia and New Zealand had also bid for the tournament; if successful, they would have shared the hosting equally, leaving the location of the final still to be decided. The Trans–Tasman bid, Beyond Boundaries, was the only one delivered to the ICC headquarters in Dubai before the 1 March deadline, but the Asian bidders were granted an extension by the ICC. The New Zealand government had given assurance that Zimbabwe would be allowed to compete in the tournament, following political discussions in the country over whether their cricket team should be allowed to tour Zimbabwe in 2005.

The extra time needed for the Asian bid had weakened its prospects, but when the time came to vote, Asia won the hosting rights by ten votes to three. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has revealed that the vote of the West Indies Cricket Board was decisive, as the Asian bid had the support of South Africa and Zimbabwe as well as the four bidding countries. The Pakistani newspaper Dawn reported that the Asian countries had promised to hold fund-raising events for West Indian cricket during the 2007 World Cup, which may have influenced the vote. However, I. S. Bindra, chairman of the Monitoring Committee of the Asian bid, said that their promise of extra profits of around US$400 million had been decisive, that there "was no quid pro quo for their support", and that playing the West Indies had "nothing to do with the World Cup bid".

Format Late in 2007, the four host nations agreed on a revised format for the 2011 World Cup, identical to that of the 1996 World Cup, except that there would be 14 teams instead of 12. The first round of the tournament would consist of two groups of seven teams. Each team in a group would play all the others once, and the top four from each group would qualify for the quarter-finals. This ensured that every team would play at least six matches.

Qualification

As per ICC regulations, all 10 full members automatically qualify for the World Cup, including Zimbabwe who have given up their Test playing status until the standard of their team improves.

The ICC also organised a qualifying tournament in South Africa to determine the four associate teams who would participate in the 2011 event. Ireland, who had been the best performing associate nation since the last World Cup, won the tournament, beating Canada in the final. The Netherlands and Kenya also qualified by virtue of finishing third and fourth respectively. All 4 associates kept their ODI status as well as Scotland who this time failed to qualify for the World Cup.

List of qualified teams The following 14 teams qualified for the final tournament.

Group AGroup BRankTeamRankTeamFull Members12 (co-host)34567 (co-host)8910 (co-host)Associate Members11121314

Preparations

Pakistan loses co-host status In April 2009, the ICC announced that Pakistan had lost its right to co-host the 2011 World Cup because of concerns about the "uncertain security situation" in the country, especially in the aftermath of the 2009 attack on the Sri Lanka national cricket team in Lahore. The PCB estimated that this would lose them $10.5 million.

On 9 April 2009, PCB chairman Ijaz Butt revealed that they had issued a legal notice to oppose ICC's decision. The ICC, however, claimed that the PCB was still a co-host, and that they had only relocated the matches out of Pakistan. Pakistan proposed that South Asia host the 2015 World Cup and that Australia and New Zealand host the 2011 event, but this option did not find favour with their co-hosts and was not implemented.

Allocation of matches On 11 April 2006, PCB chairman Shahryar Khan announced an agreement on the allocation of games, under which India would host the final, Pakistan and Sri Lanka the semi-finals, and Bangladesh the opening ceremony. After being stripped of its status as a co-host, Pakistan proposed to host its allocated games in the United Arab Emirates as a neutral venue. They had played matches in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Sharjah in the preceding months. On 28 April 2009, however, the ICC announced that matches originally intended to be played in Pakistan would be reallocated. As a result, India hosted 29 matches across eight venues, including the final and one semi-final; Sri Lanka hosted 12 matches at three venues, including one semi-final; and Bangladesh hosted 8 matches at two grounds, as well as the opening ceremony on 17 February 2011.

On 1 June 2010, the first tranche of tickets were put on sale after a meeting of the tournament's Central Organising Committee in Mumbai. The cheapest tickets cost 20 US cents in Sri Lanka. In January 2011, the ICC declared the Eden Gardens ground in Kolkata, India, to be unfit and unlikely to be complete by 27 February, when it was scheduled to host a match between India and England. The match was moved to Bangalore.

Media and promotion

The World Cup has grown as a media event with each tournament. The ICC sold the broadcasting rights for the 2011 event to ESPN Star Sports and Star Cricket for around US$2 billion. For the first time, the tournament was broadcast in high-definition format, and it was to be covered by at least 27 cameras using recent technology. It was also planned to be shown across platforms such as online and mobile 3G. It was the first time that an ICC event had the Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS).

The final was watched live by 135 million people in India, as recorded by the ratings agencies TAM and aMap, including 67.6 million Indian cable and satellite viewers. The final was watched by 13.6% of Indian TV-equipped households on average, with a peak of 21.44% at the end of the game, thus beating the semi-final between India and Pakistan, which had an estimated 11.74% TV rating in India for the whole match.

The official event ambassador was Sachin Tendulkar.

Song

The official song of the 2011 Cricket World Cup has three versions, in Bengali, Hindi and Sinhala, corresponding to the three host countries.De ghuma ke... Countdown to World Cup begins today The Indian Express. Retrieved 9 January 2011.

"O Prithibi Ebar Ese Bangladesh Ke Nao Chiney" (; ), is a song composed by Ibrar Tipu and has been sung by Ibrar Tipu, Arnob, Mila, Balam, Kona and Elita Karim. The lyricist of the song is Zulfiqer Russell. It is the official welcome song for the 2011 world cup. It was released worldwide on February 17, 2011, at welcome ceremony.

De Ghuma Ke (Swing It Hard) is the Hindi version, composed by the trio of Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy (Shankar Mahadevan, Ehsaan Noorani and Loy Mendonsa).ICC. Retrieved on 8 Feb 2010. It employs an array of Indian rhythms combined with elements of rock and hip hop. It was released worldwide on 31 December 2010. The song's lyrics were written by Manoj Yadav.Lyrics and Video of De Ghuma Ke - ICC Cricket Worldcup 2011 Official Song "We were looking at various ideas to determine what direction we can take because we wanted to make a fun song, a dhamaal song on which people can dance, they can sing and we wanted to use more of a colloquial term, which was an idea that came in late. Initially, we were looking at a regular dance song and by chance we coined this phrase De Ghuma Ke. Everyone got excited and said why not make a song around the phrase," said Shankar.Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy to compose official ICC CWC 2011 song. ICC. Retrieved 9 January 2011. The song uses Hindi colloquialisms like aare paare ("this way or that") and juta hausla badla faisla ("buck up and change the game"), and has a rousing quality. It incorporates an array of Indian rhythms, as well as elements of rock and hip-hop. The song, according to the composers, avoids both the cliches of patriotism and run-of-the-mill Bollywood beats for a "fun and funky tune" with a "folksy feel and a hint of rustic Punjabi"."De ghuma ke... Countdown to World Cup begins today". The Indian Express. Retrieved 9 January 2011. Each member has brought in the song his own unique talent and experience, combining the Carnatic and Hindustani vocal tradition, Western rock, fusion and synthesiser techniques."ICC CWC 2011 song composers explain the inspiration behind De Ghumaa Ke". ICC. Retrieved 9 January 2011.

The Sinhala version, "Sinha Udaane", was adapted by Sri Lankan R&B and hip hop artist Ranidu Lankage and composed by lyricist Shehan Galahitiyawa. Both songs were performed at the opening ceremony. "Sinha Udaane" was performed by Lankage.

Zulfiqer Russell, who pens the lyrics, tried to highlight the Liberation War, Language Movement, Cricket Team, Sunderbans, Cox's Bazar, and various aspects of the world. Composed by Ibrar Tipu, the song features music from classical to folk and danata, from Sanai to the traditional domestic tunes.

There was a lot of buzz about the song before it was released. Within two days of its release, De Ghuma Ke received nearly 7,000 hits on YouTube.ICC World Cup 2011 Song ‘De Ghuma Ke’ Getting Amazing Responses Retrieved on 10 January 2010. In the next 30 days, over 0.5 million people listened to the song on YouTube.YouTube - icc world cup 2011 official song The song became quite popular among youths and cricket enthusiasts within days of its release.In De Ghuma Ke, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy score a hit with World Cup song NDTV Movies. Retrieved 10 January 2010.

Mascot Stumpy, a young elephant, was the official mascot for the 2011 Cricket World Cup. He was unveiled at a function in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on 2 April 2010, and his name was revealed on 2 August 2010 after an online competition conducted by the ICC in the last week of July.

Opening ceremony

The opening ceremony was held in the National Stadium, Dhaka, Bangladesh, on 17 February 2011, two days before the first match.

Prize money The 2011 Cricket World Cup winning team would be taking home a prize money of US$3 million and US$1.5 million for runner-up, with the ICC deciding to double the total allocation for the tournament to US$8.01 million. The winning team was also awarded a replica of the Cricket World Cup Trophy, a practice that originated in 1999. The decision was taken at the ICC Board meeting which was held in Dubai on 20 April 2010. US$250,000 – Losing quarter-finalists (4 teams) US$500,000 – Losing semi-finalists US$1,500,000 – Runners-up US$3,250,000 – Winners

Venues