In a massive setback for Bengaluru folks, the iconic Chinnaswamy Stadium won't host matches for the upcoming Women's World Cup 2025 event. The venue was one of the five selected to host the global event, along with Guwahati, Visakhapatnam, Indore (in India), and Colombo (Sri Lanka). The International Cricket Council (ICC) is expected to announce a new venue to replace Bengaluru.
As per reports, Thiruvananthapuram, AKA Trivandrum, is the likely venue where a few matches of the Women's World Cup will be played. Although a formal announcement of the venue is not yet out, the decision was made on Monday, August 11, after the Karnataka Cricket Association (KSCA) failed to obtain permission for the matches, despite the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) giving them a two-day extension.
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Notably, the original deadline given to KSCA was Saturday, August 09, however, BCCI still gave the state a two-day extension, but they failed to secure rights for the showpiece event. Cricbuzz had reported that Bengaluru would not be the venue to host the WWC 2025 matches. BCCI & ICC had also spoken to KSCA to fasten the procedure. However, nothing happened, and KSCA is out of contention to host games. ICC also marked a 50-day countdown for the WWC event on August 11, starting on September 30 to November 02.
RCB stampede one of the reasons for Bengaluru not hosting WWC 2025 matches
With a likely venue change, the ICC now has to revise the schedule, in part or in full. Chinnaswamy Stadium was allotted five matches, including the WWC opener between hosts India & Sri Lanka. However, following a stampede on June 04 when RCB's victory march turned tragic, resulting in the deaths of 11 people and injuries to numerous fans, things have become seemingly improbable. The State Government has taken note of the tragic event and has since then taken a stringent stance of hosting games in the city.
The Chinnaswamy would have potentially hosted the final also, since Pakistan's qualification for the final looks highly impossible. Notably, Pakistan will play all its matches in Colombo. Should they qualify for the final, then Colombo will also host the final. Calls were made to reach out to KSCA for an explanation, but the calls remained unanswered. However, sources within BCCI reveal that games from Bengaluru have been moved.
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Hyderabad and Trivandrum are the likely venues to be given matches of the WWC 2025. However, the chances of the latter hosting the games look highly likely. Besides the tournament opener, the other matches set to be hosted by Bengaluru were England-South Africa (on October 3), India-Bangladesh (on October 26), and then the two knockout matches.
For the unversed, Bengaluru has also not given permission to host matches in Chinnaswamy Stadium for the ongoing Maharaja Cup, which was later shifted to Mysuru.
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