The ICC Board Meets Virtually To Deliberate On The T20 World Cup:
The fate of this year’s T20 World Cup will be on hold for the last two months, with the International Cricket Council ( ICC) meeting practically on Monday with the BCCI hoping for a postponement to ensure that the Indian Premier League ( IPL) will move forward.
The global event is scheduled to take place in Australia from October 18 to November 15, but the country’s cricket board in May itself expressed its inability to host the tournament in the midst of a surge in coronavirus cases in the state of Victoria.
With the number of cases in India also exceeding the 10 Lakh mark, including more than 26,000 deaths, the IPL is likely to move to the UAE once the central government has given the go-ahead.
“The first move was to postpone the Asia Cup, which has happened. We can only start going forward with our plans after the ICC has declared a postponement. They were sitting on the decision even after Cricket Australia said they were not too eager to host the event, “a member of the BCCI Apex Council told the leading media house about conditions of anonymity.
Next year’s T20 World Cup is expected to take place in Australia in 2022, as India does not want to exchange its 2021 hosting rights with Cricket Australia as of now. This year’s T20 World Cup is likely to be held in Australia in 2022, as India does not want to swap its 2021 hosting rights with Cricket Australia as of now.
The fact that Australia will not host the mega event was clear after the cricket board told its players to prepare for a white-ball series against England scheduled for late September. CA has even announced a 26-strong preliminary squad for that tour.
The ICC, for its part, has argued that it wants to explore all possible “contingency” options before making a call of such an immense magnitude. And it’s not unusual for the governing body to wait that long.
“Pakistan was supposed to host the Champions Trophy in 2009. After the terrorist attacks on the Sri Lankan team bus, everyone in their proper sense knew that PCB would never host a major event in the distant future,” said a source familiar with the functioning of the ICC.
“But, the ICC has been deputizing for its employees in Pakistan for months, while South Africa was already planning to host the event. Everyone knew, but the official announcement of the change took months, as the threat assessment as part of the process.
“The ICC could not have immediately postponed the T20 World Cup, just as the top ministers of the Australian government expressed their eagerness to host the event,” he added. The Pakistan Cricket Board also resigned to this result after vigorously resisting the Indian Government.
The postponement of the Asia Cup, which was to be hosted by the PCB, to 2021 was a big blow to Ehsan Mani and his squad. “We have had a lot of discussions and the feeling is it (T20 World Cup) would not be possible this year. ICC has World Cups lined up in 2021 and 2023 so we have a gap year where we can adjust this event,” Mani had recently said while talking to reporters in his country.
It has been learned that PCB is contacting other boards in the hope of finalizing some bilateral commitments, as the national team has nothing to do with its England tour.
