T20 World Cup In India May Be Delayed: ICC CEO
T20 Tournament Delayed From 2020 Would Probably Be Conducted In October And Would affect The Indian Premier League
Manu Sawhney, the current Chief Executive Officer of the ICC International Cricket Council as stated that this year’s T20 World Cup scheduled to be held in the Southeast Asian country of India might not go as per the previously planned outline. The uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic since last year is still in effect across India, and everyone is trying their best to deal with the current situation.
T20 World Cup in India
According to the CEO of the International Cricket Council, holding of bilateral series of cricket matches in India, including the T20 World Cup and Indian Premier League, would prove to be a very challenging task while maintaining a bio-secure environment for the tournament matches and holding different matches simultaneously which would involve around 16 cricket teams.
CEO Sawhney has also admitted during the press conference held regarding the upcoming hurdles for the T20 World Cup, and said that proper creating of sequential protocols and its implementation on 16 total cricket teams which would be taking part in the T20 World Cup would be a difficult task to deal with for him along with his team.
The International Cricket Council’s CEO said in the press conference that he will try his best to conduct the upcoming event of T20 World Cup in India as smoothly as possible without causing any health and safety issue, and would take notes and learn from the mistakes made during the Pakistan Super League matches recently held in the city of Karachi. Although the matches scheduled to be held in the city of Lahore have been postponed indefinitely due to the sudden surge in the number of active coronavirus cases across Pakistan.
Manu Sawhney said that the International Cricket Council, which is the global governing body for cricket sports, will also observe the protocols which have been followed during the Indian Premier League matches held between various regional teams within India, which could help in better planning for the T20 World Cup.
The T20 World Cup is currently scheduled to be conducted in the month of October this year in India. The final match of the tournament is planned to be held on November 14. T20 World Cup was originally arranged to be conducted last year in 2020 but was postponed to be directed next year in 2021, due to the sudden rise in the transmission of the deadly viral infection which has caused deaths of millions of individuals across the world.
The tournament matches of the T20 World Cup have come under scrutiny after the recently played matches of Pakistan Super League with various preventive protocols still caused localized transmission of COVID-19 infection among multiple players and working staff members, resulting in the postponement of remaining matches.
Indian Premier League schedule
The leaders for Indian cricket are worried due to the delay in regarding a piece of official news from the International Cricket Council for moving forward with the scheduled dates of the T20 World Cup for this year, or the tournament would be further delayed due to the increasing rise in the number of active coronavirus cases across the country.
The T20 World Cup is causing the Board of Control for Cricket in India from planning a finalized date for their biggest earning event of the year, the Indian Premier League. According to the International Cricket Council, a final decision would be taken in the month of July regarding the future tournaments of T20 World Cup, which is previously said to start in the month of October in Australia. However, no date for the meeting has yet been made public.
The treasurer for the BCCI Arun Bhumal stated that no reason had been given by the International Cricket Council regarding their delay in the conclusive decision. He also added that the BCCI is currently trying to look for a window of opportunity in which they would be conducting the matches of the Indian Premier League, and the decisive dates would include the factor of T20 World Cup timeline given by the International Cricket Council. The BCCI is also looking forward to options that would include conducting the Indian Premier League matches overseas.
The Sri Lankan and the United Arab Emirates cricket boards have shown immense interest in hosting the T20 World Cup in their country, as the tournament attracts cricket superstars from across the globe like West Indies Chris Gayle, England’s Joe Roots, and Faf du Plessis of South Africa.
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