New Delhi: The marquee T20 World Cup in October-November is set to be shifted to the UAE with the BCCI having internally intimated the ICC to go ahead with its preparation due to a tricky Covid-19 situation in India.
While the UAE was always the first backup option, Oman’s capital Muscat has been added as the fourth venue, apart from Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Sharjah, for the tournament that will start in the last week of October.
The BCCI, during the ICC board meeting, has formally asked for a four-week window to take a final call but, internally, they have said that they would like to keep the hosting rights and wouldn’t mind the tournament being held in UAE and Oman.
Muscat has been zeroed in specifically for the preliminary rounds of the 16-team competition, which will also allow the three UAE grounds to get sufficient time to freshen up after 31 IPL games. IPL finishes by October 10, then the UAE leg of World T20 can start off in November which would give three weeks’ time for the pitches to be spruced up for the global event. In the meanwhile, the first week’s matches can be held in Oman.
A majority of the ICC board members believe that India is trying to bide time as they take stock of the situation at a time when it is very difficult to predict how things pan out in October-November.
India is now reporting around 120,000 plus cases which are close to one-third of what was being reported at the end of April and the start of this month.
“In a 16-team event, if there is one team that gets affected in a bubble with multiple cases, it won’t be like IPL. For weaker national teams, you won’t get ready replacements outside 14 or 15 men. There are teething issues,”said an official of an associate nation, which is a part of the tournament.
Post Your Comments