NEW DELHI, Oct 7: India will make an aggressive bid to host the 2011 cricket World Cup in the sub-continent when the International Cricket Council (ICC) meets in Sydney next week, a top official said on Friday.

Asian cricket chief Jagmohan Dalmiya, a former ICC president, said he would formally propose at the ICC’s executive board meeting on Monday that the sub-continent, which comprises four Test nations, hold every third World Cup.

“I am told that Australia is a strong contender for the 2011 World Cup, but we will make a strong pitch for it,” Dalmiya said.

“Not only four of the 10 Test-playing nations — India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh — are from the sub-continent, but the region generates the maximum funds for world cricket,” he said.

“It is only fair that every third World Cup should be held in our part of the world.”

The sport’s premier limited-overs tournament, held every four years, has been held twice before in the sub-continent.

India and Pakistan jointly organised the World Cup in 1987 and brought in Sri Lanka as co-hosts for the 1996 event.

Dalmiya said a joint bid by India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh for the 2011 tournament was a possibility, although no details had been finalised. “We are open to the idea,” he said.

“It will be a great advertisement for the popularity of cricket in the sub-continent.”

The first three World Cups were held in England in 1975, 1979 and 1983 before it was shifted to the sub-continent in 1987.

The 1992 competition was hosted jointly by Australia and New Zealand, followed by the sub-continent in 1996, England in 1999 and South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya in 2003.

The next World Cup will be hosted in the Caribbean in 2007.

India will also organise the biennial Champions Trophy between the top eight one-day nations in 2006 after the government agreed to exempt the tournament from taxes.—AFP