Strongly condemning the exclusion of Mohali from the list of host cities in the ODI Cricket World Cup-2023 schedule released on Tuesday, Punjab Sports Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer has described the decision as being motivated by political reasons.

Notably, the ICC ODI Cricket World Cup-2023 will be held in India in the month of October-November this year.

“The exclusion of World Cup matches is open discrimination against Punjab as it is the first time, after the construction of PCA Stadium, Mohali, that the World Cup is being held in India and no match is taking place at Mohali. In 1996 and 2011, the World Cup semi-finals were played at Mohali, but this time, not even a single league match has been allotted to Punjab. Apart from the opening and final matches, Ahmedabad also gets to host the India-Pakistan match,” said Hayer.

Hayer said that PCA Stadium-Mohali is not only one of the top five stadiums in India but also comes in the list of prominent stadiums in the world. “Mohali is always the first choice of cricket fans. Discrimination against Punjab will not be tolerated at any cost,” he said, adding that the State Government will raise the issue of this discrimination and open injustice with the BCCI.

The Sports Minister further said that Mohali has an international airport and the city also has better infrastructure and adequate hotels for the teams to stay.

Holding the match at Mohali would give a big boost to sports tourism with the arrival of sports lover tourists from across the country and abroad sure to boost the economy of the State, he added.