World Cup 2011 logo launched with fanfare

The 2011 World Cup, to be hosted in the sub-continent, was on Tuesday launched in Mumbai with all the fanfare by the International Cricket Council with a member each from most of the previous winners present.

Clive Lloyd, the captain of the West Indies sides that won in 1975 and 1979 in England, India's 1983 winning-team members Balwinder Sandhu and Dilip Vengsarkar, Sri Lanka's Aravinda D'Silva who played a major role in the 1996 Cup winning squad and Michael Bevan of Australia who was part of the team that won the crown in 1999 and 2003 were those present.

ICC vice-president Sharad Pawar and Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat were also present.

The sound and laser show that showcased the key moments of all the previous World Cups was a breathtaking affair.

Lorgat sought to dispel fears of one-day format being overtaken by the huge popularity of the Twenty20 version saying that the limited overs World Cup continued to be ICC's showpiece event.

"The (50-over) World Cup is the flagship event of the ICC. What we have will hold up in the future," he announced to the audience which had several former Mumbai-based Test cricketers including Ajit Wadekar, Bapu Nadkarni and Umesh Kulkarni.

Lorgat also said that the 2011 World Cup would be over in 40-plus dates and would involve 14 teams.

Pawar, the chairman of the 2011 World Cup Organising Committee, announced that the Indian board has decided to keep the ticket prices at affordable rates to encourage the student community to witness the matches and reiterated that Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium would host the final.

"The Indian board has decided to keep the rates of the tickets low to encourage the student community. We don't want to make too much money out of gates. This has come after what we saw in the West Indies (during the 2007 World Cup)," he added.

The last World Cup was played in front of a lot of empty seats.

Pawar also said that Pakistan, which would not hold any matches, would continue to be part of the organizational set-up.

"I'm upset that a major partner Pakistan is not organising a match due to unfortunate circumstances. They will be very much part of the organising committee and would help organize the World Cup in a dignified manner," he said.

Pakistan's representative -- PCB's cricket operations manager -- Zakir Khan took part in the ceremony though he did not attend the meeting of the World Cup Central Organising Committee which preceded it.