New Delhi alloted 2011 World Cup final

A new state-of-the-art stadium in New Delhi will host the final of the 2011 World Cup, the Indian cricket board (BCCI) announced. This will be the first stadium owned entirely by the board, said Lalit Modi, vice-president of the BCCI.

The BCCI stadium will be situated in south New Delhi, in a 70-acre area alloted by the authorities between the Maharani Bagh area and the banks of the Yamuna river. Modi stated that it was still very early to give out details regarding the cost of the stadium, but gave a glimpse of the proposed facilities. He added that construction work would begin later this year.

"We are going to pull out all stops to make sure that by 2011 World Cup final, which will be hosted in this new stadium in Delhi and which has already been decided by the ICC and the four members (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh), the stadium is ready," Modi told Indo Asian News Service. "It's too premature to talk in detail because at this stage we are only looking at it with a vision to make a world-class facility. There will be accommodation, club houses, floodlights, academies."

The project was conceived in 2001 but slowed down because of renovation work at the Feroz Shah Kotla, the regular venue which has hosted international matches. Eden Gardens in Kolkata is the only other ground in India which has hosted a World Cup final (1987).

India was awarded the 2011 World Cup finals after a meeting in London by representatives from the four host nations. It was also decided that The Gadaffi Stadium in Lahore and the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo would host the semi-finals.