Ceremonial opening of ICC World Cup 2011 held tonight

The colorful and grand opening of 10th ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 has been successfully ended just 15 minutes ago. Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina formally inaugurated the gala event at the Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka of Bangladesh.

The Captains of 14 teams to play in the world cup entered the ceremony riding on Rickshaw, three wheeler common human transport driven by men leg without any motor engine.  

The ceremony was begun at 6.15 pm in the evening and ended at 8.45 pm in the night. The grand ceremony was  set out with the National Anthem of Bangladesh.

The artists of India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh displayed the own cultures through different presentations in the ceremony. 

           

Dhaka is ready to open 10th CWC today

Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka, Bangladesh 

Bangladesh is now ready to open the 10th ICC Cricket World Cup. The opening ceremony will be held at the Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka, the capital city of the country today (17 February 2011, Thursday) afternoon.

Roads and important establishments of the country have been illuminated with different colors of lights and felicitating flags have also been hoisted to embrace the players and participants of the opening ceremony.

Bangladesh is going to organise first time this kind of International Event being co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka. 

Meanwhile, all kinds of securities have been beefed up over the city to ensure enjoyable opening ceremony where three countries will present their own culture and heritage through their separate events and performances.    

The 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup will be the 10th Cricket World Cup and will be hosted by three South Asian Test cricket playing countries: India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. 

It will be Bangladesh's first time co-hosting a Cricket World Cup. The World Cup will use cricket's One Day International format, with fourteen national cricket teams scheduled to compete. 

The World Cup will take place between February and early April 2011, with the first match to be played on 19 February 2011 with co-hosts India and Bangladesh facing off at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur, Dhaka of Bangladesh.

The opening ceremony will be held tomorrow 17 February 2011, two days before the start of the tournament, with the final on 2 April 2011 at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai.

The World Cup was also supposed to be co-hosted by Pakistan, but in the wake of the 2009 attack on the Sri Lanka national cricket team in Lahore, the International Cricket Council (ICC) decided to strip Pakistan of its hosting rights.

The headquarters of the organising committee were originally situated in Lahore, but have now been shifted to Mumbai. Pakistan was supposed to hold 14 matches, including one semi-final. Eight of Pakistan's matches have been awarded to India, four to Sri Lanka and two to Bangladesh.

MS Dhoni talks Midea about WC 2011

15 member Indian Squad for CWC 2011

Mahendra Singh Dhoni

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the 15-member Indian squad for the 2011 World Cup on 17 January 2011 (Monday) beginning from February 19 at Sher-e-Bangla Stadium, Mirpur, Dhaka.

The team comprises of seven batsmen, one all-rounder, four pacers and three specialist spinners.

Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina have been retained from the present team on a tour of South Africa. Vice-captain Virender Sehwag, who had opted out of the ODI series in South Africa, has made a return for cricket's biggest event.

Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, Praveen Kumar and Ashish Nehra will take care of pace-bowling while Harbhajan, R. Ashwin and Piyush Chawla form the spinners' trio.

Yusuf Pathan has been handed the all-rounder's job. Wicket-keeping has been entrusted entirely to captain M.S. Dhoni.

Those who failed to find a place in the team include spinner Pragyan Ojha, pacer S. Sreesanth and all-rounder Rohit Sharma.

The selection panel, headed by chief selector K. Srikkanth, chose the team out of a list of 30 probables. Dhoni and coach Gary Kirsten, who are currently busy with the ODI series in South Africa, were also part of the consultations done through teleconferencing.

Chief selector K. Srikkanth said a well-balanced team had been picked up keeping in mind the ground and wicket conditions in the sub-continent.

The 15-member team is:

MS Dhoni (C)

Sachin Tendulkar

Virender Sehwag

Gautam Gambhir

Yuvraj Singh

Suresh Raina

Virat Kohli

Yusuf Pathan (all-rounder)

Zaheer Khan

Ashish Nehra

Munaf Patel

Praveen Kumar

Harbhajan Singh

R. Ashwin

Piyush Chawla

"We have selected the best combination after consultations with the captain and the coach. I am confident the team will win the World Cup for us," Srikkanth said in Chennai.

Video of Bangla theme song on World Cup 2011

ICC theme song on World Cup 2011

Video on Tri Language Theme Song of CWC 2011

Look at the Bangla Theme song on ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 to be opened in Bangladesh on 17 February 2011 in Dhaka, Bangladesh.