No direct flights! Why Thiruvananthapuram failed to get Women's Cricket World Cup ticket

Kerala missed out on a glorious chance to host its first-ever cricket World Cup due to logistical reasons.

The Greenfield Stadium at Karyavattom in Kerala's capital city, Thiruvananthapuram, was expected to host at least four matches in the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup this year.

But on Friday, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced Navi Mumbai as the replacement, with the potential of hosting the final, besides a semifinal and three group matches.

"We missed out because there are no direct flights to Thiruvananthapuram from the other venues," said Vinod S Kumar, Secretary, Kerala Cricket Association.

The Thiruvananthapuram airport, operated by the Adani Group, has direct flights connecting Tier 1 cities such as Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi, besides Kannur, Cochin and Pune.

However, it does not operate services to the three Tier 2 cities — Guwahati, Indore and Vizag — the other venues of the World Cup to be held from September 30 to November 2.

Thiruvananthapuram was understandably the first choice to replace the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, which was excluded from the initial list of venues after the June 4 stampede during Royal Challengers Bengaluru's IPL-winning celebrations that resulted in 11 deaths.

"We were positive of hosting the World Cup until a few weeks ago. There was a delay in finalising the replacement venue because the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) was looking at the possibility of operating chartered flights. That could have been possible if this was a bilateral series and not an ICC event," Vinod said. A senior BCCI official Onmanorama contacted, refused to comment. 

Kerala has never hosted a cricket World Cup, though Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram have hosted international matches. The Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi hosted international matches till 2014, but was transformed into a football-specific venue since the emergence of the Indian Super League.

A decade ago, the KCA switched base to Thiruvananthapuram and has turned the Greenfield Stadium into a world-class cricket venue. The first ODI at the Greenfield Stadium was played in 2018, and ever since, the venue has hosted five more internationals, the last in November 2023 when India defeated Australia by 44 runs in a T20I.

The ICC Women's World Cup will be jointly hosted by India and Sri Lanka. Colombo in Sri Lanka was chosen as a venue to accommodate Pakistan, which refused to visit India due to ongoing diplomatic tensions.

Following the confirmation of the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai as the fifth venue, ICC Chairman Jay Shah said, "While unforeseen circumstances required us to adjust the schedule and replace a venue, we are pleased to now have a line-up of five world-class venues that will showcase the very best of the women’s game."