Bengaluru Likely to Be Stripped of World Cup Hosting Rights After Missing Deadline, Thiruvananthapuram Frontrunner

BCCI is contemplating on different venues after matches are set to be shifted out of Bengaluru for the upcoming World Cup.

Bengaluru Likely to Be Stripped of World Cup Hosting Rights After Missing Deadline, Thiruvananthapuram Frontrunner

M. Chinnaswamy Stadium (Image via OneCricket)

🔍 Explore this post with:

ChatGPTPerplexityGrok AIGoogle AI

The 2025 Women’s World Cup is all set to take place in India. Except Pakistan, all teams would be playing at different venues in the country. Pakistan due to security reasons will be having their matches held in Sri Lanka. Everything was moving forward as per plan regarding the venues, however, a late development has forced BCCI to make some changes to the schedule.

The unfortunate stampede incident that took place on the 4th of June this year has scarred the famous M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. The iconic ground has been termed as an unsafe property to hold any sort of public gathering.

The government and the cricket board believe that with the World Cup coming home there will be a lot of hustle-bustle right through the country. Cricket fans will be flocking from one place to the other wanting a glimpse of their favorite players. With regard to the recent mishap, the board reportedly doesn’t want any such incidents repeating in the city.

Taking all of this into account, matches are likely to be shifted out from Bengaluru to another city. Being one of the five venues for the World Cup, Bengaluru was going to host four matches this time around.

It was going to be the venue that would kick off the tournament with a priced India vs. Sri Lanka clash. Further, it would hold England vs. South Africa and India vs. Bangladesh in the group stages. Bengaluru was also going to host the second semifinal of the tournament.

However, with the recent development, these matches are now going to be shifted to another venue. Thiruvananthapuram is a frontrunner. If Thiruvananthapuram bags the hosting rights, it will be interesting to see whether it replaces the semifinal match as well, as it doesn’t come under the more prominent stadiums of the country.

Fans should expect an official announcement from the board anytime soon as the World Cup is only a little more than a month away. The tournament will kick off on the 30th of September.

Is this India’s best chance to end the World Cup drought?

The 2025 ICC Women’s World Cup will be the third instance of India hosting a women’s World Cup. The previous instances were 1978, 1997 and 2013. India failed to capitalize on home advantage on all the three previous occasions. In fact the Indian women’s team is yet to lift a Cricket World Cup in any format.

Indian Women's Cricket team reviewing a decision
Indian Women’s Cricket team (via Olympics.com)

The women’s ODI World Cup has been heavily dominated by Australia, who have won it 7 times, and England, who have won it on 4 occasions. New Zealand too has a solitary win, but apart from that, no other team has been able to taste World Cup glory.

The Indian men’s team had a wonderful home World Cup in 2023 before losing to Australia in a heartbreaking final. The women’s side would love to take a step forward and bring the trophy home. In all India hasn’t touched an ODI World Cup since 2011 when MS Dhoni hit the winning six. Knowing the home conditions well, India would believe they are well equipped to win the event.

They have a good mix of young and experienced campaigners in the side. The likes of Jemimah Rodrigues, Shreyanka Patil and Richa Ghosh have shown great promise as youngsters in the side. To help them out, the team has experienced campaigners like captain Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana and Deepti Sharma.

The team looks in good form as they won both the T20I and ODI series in their recent visit to England. Fans should get behind their team and be confident of India making a deep run. If anything, the Indian women must make sure they stay strong in the knockout stages and play ruthless cricket.

Indian women have been guilty of messing it up right at the end, and a home World Cup will come with added pressure. However, the team must believe it can turn the tables around this year.

Also Read: