Is BCCI planning on moving ICC World T20 2021 to UAE?
The 2021 edition of the ICC World T20 would be the seventh edition of the prestigious global Twenty20 event. It would also be the second edition to be held in India, with the previous edition, in 2016, being held in India and won by the Windies.
FollowIn what could come as heartbreaking news for Indian cricketing fans, the upcoming prestigious ICC World T20 2021, slated to be held in the country, could be moved to the United Arab Emirates. The reason for the same happens to be the current COVID-19 situation in the country, which is going through a second wave.
The event is presently scheduled to be held in India between October to November, comprising 16 teams, across nine venues (Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Dharamsala, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow and Mumbai), with Ahmedabad hosting the final. Currently, BCCI is preparing for all scenarios and is in regular talks with the International Cricket Council.
"I hope so. I am doing everything we can to make sure that it happens. We will be doing normal scenario, Covid-scenario, worst-case scenario. All that we are in talks with the ICC at the moment," said 2021 WT20 tournament director BBC's Stumped.
Malhotra also asserted that it would be a contingency plan to keep UAE handy if the COVID situation in the country fails to normalise by the time. However, he affirmed that BCCI priority is to make the tournament happen in India at all costs.
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"It would be UAE. And, we are hoping it will again be done by BCCI - we will take the tournament there. So, it will be still run by BCCI. As of now, we are looking at ticket sales, people travelling from all over the world, but again we don't know what the situation would be at that point of time," he added.
Notably, India had successfully hosted the 2020 Indian Premier League in the gulf country after the COVID situation made it impossible for it to be held in India. Although IPL 2021 is being held in India under the current circumstances, it would be entirely different when hosting a global tournament like WT20 during a pandemic.
As of Thursday, India has recorded more than 3.80 lakh new cases, while it is second in the list for having reported the most cases after the United States of America. India is also slowly on the verge of becoming the third in most death rates.
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