The 100-day countdown for the 43-day, 49-match 2011 World Cup began in Dubai on Tuesday. The World Cup trophy was displayed South African players Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn in the Dubai aquarium. The tournament would be played under a new format with India jointly hosting the tournament along with Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. However a majority of matches (29) including the final at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai on April 2 will be played in India. The ICC hopes the event will be a grand success and ICC Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat informed that all necessary measures have been initiated keeping in mind the last World Cup held in West Indies three years back, where the turn outs were very low due to the high prices of the tickets. Pakistan was also supposed to co-host the tournament, but was stripped off the rights in the wake of the terror attack on the Sri Lankan team in March last year. The opening ceremony for the tournament scheduled from February 19 to April 2, 2011 would be held in Dhaka, Bangladesh on 17th of February.
