A joint bid by India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh defeated the rival bid by Australia and New Zealand 10-3 at the International Cricket Council's (ICC) Executive Board meeting in Dubai on Sunday.

Inderjit Singh Bindra, the former Indian cricket boss who made the Asian presentation on Sunday, said he was confident from the start that the bid would win.

"We only had to stress that cricket is a religion in our part of the world, everything else is secondary," said Bindra.

"Bollywood movies, official functions, even marriages, are arranged depending on the cricket schedule. No one does anything else if a big match is being organised. There will be more than a billion viewers in the sub-continent and another billion in the rest of the world.

"We are confident 2011 will represent a new landmark as a cricketing and sporting milestone. The cricket World Cup will be as big as the one for football."

Bindra, who led the sub-continent's successful bids for the 1987 and 1996 events, said it was remarkable team work by the four nations that secured the vote.

"I may have made the presentation yesterday, but the credit has to go to all four countries," he said. "We are a close-knit unit and that is how it will stay."

Of greater significance, Bindra added, was the fact that the ICC agreed that every third World Cup will be held in the Indian sub-continent, the region that drives the sport's economics.

What, however, remained unsaid was the hectic backroom diplomacy that went on through Saturday night in Dubai ahead of the vote.

The numbers were clearly against Australia and New Zealand, who needed the mandatory support of seven of the 10 Test-playing nations for their bid to succeed.

With the four Asian nations having joined hands, Australia and New Zealand could, at best, have garnered six votes between themselves.

But they could have ensured the vote be postponed to a later date had they succeeded in roping in South Africa, Zimbabwe and the West Indies along with their trusted backer England.

In the end, only England supported the trans-Tasman bid as the Asians first sealed the South African and Zimbabwe votes and then won over the West Indies by promising to organise fund-raising events during next year's World Cup in the Caribbean.