Organizers have targeted the end of November for the final
preparations for the venues, tournament director Ratnakar Shetty said 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 organizers will be visiting all 13 venues starting from Nov.
18." The quadrennial event will be played across 13 venues with eight in
India, three in Sri Lanka and two in Bangladesh, from Feb. 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 organizers have come
under fire with team officials complaining about sub-standard accommodation
facilities for athletes with missed deadlines compounding the problems. Cricket
organizers pledged they would not take any chances.
"We have closed all our logistic issues. We have finalized
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 criticize Commonwealth Games organizers
for the sorry state of affairs, with 11 days left for the Oct. 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 organization
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."
