ICC to take official decision on T20 World Cup next week

According to a report from the Times of India, the much anticipated T20 World Cup which was scheduled to take place in Australia this October is all set to be postponed. An official announcement from the ICC is expected to be made on the 28th this month.

The board members are set to communicate with each other in an ICC teleconference in the upcoming week, to make an official decision. With Australia’s international borders closed till the middle of September, incoming passengers requiring to undergo two-week quarantine and plenty of other logistical issues facing ICC and Cricket Australia, the situation is not in favour of a 16-team tournament.

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According to the report, the ICC will discuss alternate options including Australia hosting the tournament earlier next year, in February/March 2021, India and Australia swapping hosting rights for the T20 World Cups (Australia to host in 2021, India in 2022), and Australia hosting the tournament in 2022. The election process to replace outgoing ICC chief Shashank Manohar is also set to be discussed during the ICC conference.

Once the decision on the T20 World Cup is official, the Board of Control for Cricket in India might use that opportunity to commence plans for an Indian Premier League in that window. The IPL 2020 has been indefinitely postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but with sports facilities opening up, hopes for the tournament to happen this year have increased.

BCCI CEO Rahul Johri recently said that cricketing activities could resume after the monsoons in the country. India are also in talks with Cricket South Africa for a three-T20I series in South Africa in August. He said, “IPL is one of the greatest engagers. More people watched the IPL last year than those who voted for general elections. For sponsors, cricket is a leader and it will lead the way. The recovery will be sharper than a V-shaped recovery. The flavour of IPL is that best players of the world come and play, and everyone is committed to maintaining that flow. But it will be a step by step process. We can’t expect normalisation tomorrow.”