Karyavattom Greenfield stadium shortlisted to host ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 matches

NEW DELHI: Thiruvananthapuram's Karyavattom Greenfield has made it to the list of 15 stadiums submitted by BCCI to ICC to host the Cricket World Cup matches later this year. The ICC will decide the venues and schedule of matches from the list. Apart from Karyavattom, the stadiums in Ahmedabad, Delhi, Nagpur, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Lucknow, Gohati, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Rajkot, Indore, Dharamsala, Chennai and Visakhapatnam are on the list.

As per reports, World Cup will start in October this year. The Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad will be the venue for the final and major matches including the one between India and Pakistan. It is the largest cricket stadium in the world. Before this, the ODI World Cup was held in India in 2011. India won the title by defeating Sri Lanka in the final. England are the current World Cup winners.

Will Karyavattom get lucky?

Built as part of the 2015 National Games, the Karyavattom Green Field Stadium has so far hosted two ODIs and three Twenty20 matches. The first Twenty20 match was between India and New Zealand on November 7, 2017. The last ODI between India and Lanka was played on January 15 this year.

The plus point of Greenfield are its well-maintained dressing rooms and a stadium that can house around 55000 spectators. A dozen practice pitches can also be set up here.

Better training facilities and base camp facilities must be set up for teams participating in the World Cup. ICC standard facilities should be prepared in the VIP pavilion. Provisions should be made for digital streaming coverage along with telecasting.

The minus point was that the spectators did not turn up due to the ticket price issue in the last match. There is also concerns about possible rains during northeast monsoon season.