Bangladesh and India will meet in the opening match of the 2011 World Cup at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur on February 19. India and Bangladesh the co-hosts of this 10th Cricket World Cup are clubbed together in Group B. Sri Lanka is the third host country while Pakistan had lost the opportunity because of its security problems.

There will be a total of 14 teams participating in this edition of the World Cup. A total of 49 matches are to be played from February 19th to April 2nd. The Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai will be hosting the final of the 43-day tournament.

There is quite a lot of difference between this World Cup in comparison to the last three World Cups in 1999, 2003 and 2007. The concept of Super 8s has been thrown away this time! The last World Cup played in West Indies had 16 teams which were divided into four groups. This time Scotland and Bermuda do not get the opportunity to participate and the 14 teams have been divided into two groups. The top four of the seven teams in each  group makes it to the Quarter Final. The 2007 World Cup had a bug in the scheule with top teams like India and Pakistan crashing out in the first round itself  which resulted in killing the interest totally in what was a long tournament.

Below are the Groups of the 2011 World Cup :

Group A : Australia, Pakistan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Canada and Kenya

Group B : India, South Africa, England, West Indies, Bangladesh, Ireland and the Netherlands

Tags: ICC World Cup 2011