How DNA pulled off the ICC Women’s ODI World Cup 2025 When the International Cricket Council (ICC) entrusted us with the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025, we looked beyond the ceremonies. The brief was to create a complete stadium experience across four venues: Guwahati, Indore, Visakhapatnam and Navi Mumbai. From ceremonies and match entertainment […]
When the International Cricket Council (ICC) entrusted us with the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025, we looked beyond the ceremonies. The brief was to create a complete stadium experience across four venues: Guwahati, Indore, Visakhapatnam and Navi Mumbai.
From ceremonies and match entertainment to branding, technical production and fan engagement, a 180 member DNA team worked across the tournament to bring the experience together.
We have been an ICC production partner for over 15 years, and this tournament became another important chapter in that relationship.
The opening ceremony at Guwahati had to celebrate the legends of women’s cricket, reflect the culture of the host city, and transition seamlessly into the match.
The evening featured performances by Joi Barua, Papon and the Shillong Choir, followed by Shreya Ghoshal during the mid-innings show.
Behind the performances was a large-scale technical setup, including 1,200 lights, cold pyros, CO2 and multiple timed SFX elements.
The closing ceremony at DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai, brought another level of scale. With Sunidhi Chauhan as the headline performer and more than 400 dancers on the cricket outfield, the production combined performance, lighting, pyrotechnics and aerial technology.
The ceremony featured 1,500 lights and 1,500 synchronised drones, creating a large-scale visual sequence above the stadium.
The production also included SFX from 32 locations and a 1-minute aerial fireworks sequence featuring 300 shots.
Every element had to work around broadcast requirements, weather conditions, safety protocols and the sporting schedule.
A World Cup is more than its opening and closing nights.
Across the tournament, match entertainment was treated as a daily experience, with live acts, sportainment, LED content, concourse activations, fan zones, installations, face painters and stilt walkers keeping the stadium active before and during matches.
Artist management ran throughout the tournament, covering bookings, rehearsals, advancing and show-calling while adapting to the realities of live sport.
One of the recurring ceremonial elements across the tournament was the flag ceremony.
For every match, 150 flag bearers were involved in carrying the participating nations' flags, creating a consistent World Cup ritual across the venues.
The ceremonies also featured live National Anthem singers representing the participating countries, adding another layer of authenticity to the match-day experience.
Behind these visible moments was a 180-member DNA team, working across production, technical operations, entertainment, artist management, branding, logistics and on-ground execution.
The final moment of any World Cup is the trophy lift, and that moment needed a stage worthy of the occasion.
For the presentation ceremony, we built a large presentation stage that became the centrepiece for the trophy celebration.
As the trophy was lifted, the stage came alive with confetti blowers, finger flames and Peacock pyro shots, creating the final visual punctuation to the tournament.
It was a carefully timed sequence where the stage, effects and trophy presentation had to come together in one moment, giving the champions a celebration that matched the scale of the World Cup.
These numbers give a sense of the scale.
But the real challenge was making every element work together, from the first rehearsal to the final trophy lift.
When the last confetti settled, and the trophy was lifted in Navi Mumbai, the job was not simply finished.
The Women's World Cup became a full scale exercise in bringing together sport, entertainment, technology and live production across four Indian stadiums.
It was about creating experiences for the fans, supporting the sport and giving every major moment, from the opening ceremony to the final trophy lift, the production it deserved.
A World Cup is played on the field.
But the experience around it is built by hundreds of people behind the scenes, making sure every light, every cue, every performance, every effect and every moment comes together when it matters.
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