ICC T20 World Cup venue likely to change due to covid.

     Written by : SMTV24x7 | Fri, Apr 30, 2021, 06:46 PM

T20 World Cup venue likely to change due to covid.

The T20 World Cup could be shifted to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) if the COVID-19 crisis in India persists, a Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) official has confirmed.

After the International Cricket Council (ICC) said that they have a 'Plan B' if India is unable to host the T20 World Cup in 2021, Dhiraj Malhotra, who is the BCCI's General Manager of Game Development, has confirmed that the tournament could be moved to the Middle East later this year.

"It would be the UAE. We're hoping again that it would be done by the BCCI. So, we'll take the tournament there, but it'll still be done by the BCCI. I've just been named one of the tournament directors, so I'm doing everything we can to make sure it happens (in India).

We will be doing the normal scenario, COVID scenario and worst-case scenario, so with all that we're talking to the ICC at the moment," Malhotra was quoted by cricket.com.au, as saying on the BBC's Stumped podcast.

"As of now, we are targeting and looking at ticket sales and people travelling from all over the world. But again, we don't know what the situation will be at that point in time (in October)," added Malhotra. The T20 World Cup was initially scheduled to be held in India in 2020. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, it was shifted to 2021.

However, the Indian Premier League (IPL) was still organised by the BCCI. The Indian T20 league was not played in India but instead was hosted by the UAE. By doing so, the Middle Eastern country became only the third nation, after India and South Africa, to host a whole season of the IPL. South Africa did so in 2009, which was IPL's second edition.

Last year, the UAE proved its capability to host a major tournament like the IPL, which comprised of as many as 60 games, amid a pandemic, at just three venues - Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Sharjah - in a little more than seven weeks, all in a bio-secure bubble.

On Thursday, India set an unfortunate global record rise in cases for the eighth consecutive day with 3,79,257 reported positive results and 3,645 deaths. Also, Australia, New Zealand, Bangladesh and the United Kingdom - who will all be sending teams to the T20 World Cup this year - have currently banned flights from India due to the COVID-19 crisis.