Australia and New Zealand had also bid for the tournament; if successful, they would have shared the hosting equally, leaving the location of the final still to be decided.

[13] The Pakistani newspaper Dawn reported that the Asian countries had promised to hold fund-raising events for West Indian cricket during the 2007 World Cup, which may have influenced the vote.

As per ICC regulations, all 10 full members automatically qualify for the World Cup, including Zimbabwe who have given up their Test playing status until the standard of their team improves.

[18] The ICC also organised a qualifying tournament in South Africa to determine the four associate teams who would participate in the 2011 event.

Ireland, who had been the best performing associate nation since the last World Cup, won the tournament, beating Canada in the final.

In April 2009, the ICC announced that Pakistan had lost its right to co-host the 2011 World Cup because of concerns about the "uncertain security situation" in the country, especially in the aftermath of the 2009 attack on the Sri Lanka national cricket team in Lahore.

On 9 April 2009, PCB chairman Ijaz Butt revealed that they had issued a legal notice to oppose ICC's decision.

[25] On 11 April 2005, PCB chairman Shahryar Khan announced an agreement on the allocation of games,[26] under which India would host the final, Pakistan and Sri Lanka the semi-finals,[27] and Bangladesh the opening ceremony.

[28] After being stripped of its status as a co-host, Pakistan proposed to host its allocated games in the United Arab Emirates as a neutral venue.

[citation needed] On 28 April 2009, however, the ICC announced that matches originally intended to be played in Pakistan would be reallocated.

[29] On 1 June 2010, the first tranche of tickets were put on sale after a meeting of the tournament's Central Organising Committee in Mumbai.

[citation needed] For the first time, the tournament was broadcast in high-definition format, and it was to be covered by at least 27 cameras using recent technology.

[37] The official song of the 2011 Cricket World Cup has three versions, in Bengali, Hindi and Sinhala, corresponding to the three host countries.

The Sinhala version, "Sinha Udaane", was adapted by Sri Lankan R&B and hip hop artist Ranidu Lankage and composed by lyricist Shehan Galahitiyawa.

[41] He was unveiled at a function in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on 2 April 2010,[42] and his name was revealed on 2 August 2010 after an online competition conducted by the ICC in the last week of July.

Sachin Tendulkar of India played in his sixth consecutive world cup, equalling the record of Javed Miandad (PAK).

[47][48] All 14 nations that were qualified to take part in the World Cup participated in a series of matches to prepare, experiment with different tactics and to help them acclimatise to conditions in the Indian Subcontinent.

India captain MS Dhoni was named man of the match after an unbeaten, match-winning innings of 91 runs off 79 balls, including the final shot that won the game.