New Delhi: The marquee T20 World Cup in October-November is about to be shifted to the UAE and Oman with the BCCI having internally intimated the ICC to go forward with its preparation due to a difficult COVID-19 state of affairs in India.
While the UAE was at all times the primary back-up possibility, Oman’s capital Muscat has been added because the fourth venue, aside from Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah, for the match that can begin in the final week of October.
“Yes, 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,” a senior board official, privy to ICC board developments, instructed PTI on the situation of anonymity.
He mentioned that Muscat has been zeroed in particularly for the preliminary rounds of the 16-team competitors, which may also enable the three UAE grounds to get enough time to clean up after 31 IPL video games.
“If IPL finishes by October 10, then the UAE leg of World T20 can start off in November which would give three weeks time to the pitches to be spruced up for the global event. In the meanwhile, the first week can be held in Oman,” he mentioned.
A majority of the ICC board members imagine that India is attempting to bide time as they take inventory of the state of affairs at a time when it is vitally troublesome to predict how issues pan out in October-November.
“If you think about it practically, India is now reporting around 120,000 plus cases which is close to one third of what was being reported at the end of April and start of this month. But sitting on June 28, if you say “sure” to holding the World T20 in India, how can you predict the health situation in October if there is a third wave,” the seasoned official requested.
The second query is that if the BCCI is cautious of resuming the eight-team IPL in September in India, how can it maintain a 16-team occasion in the country inside a month’s time.
“Look, everyone including BCCI brass knows that monsoon is not a good enough reason and it is COVID-19, with almost 2500 crore revenue riding on the tournament. In a 16-team event, if there is one team that gets affected in 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,” an official of an affiliate nation, which is part of the match, mentioned.
Another “elephant in the room” is what number of abroad gamers would really like to threat coming to India for the match if the state of affairs does not enhance drastically.
“They would certainly come and play the IPL in the UAE and would be more than happy to play the T20 World Cup over there. But one can be rest assured that there would apprehensions with regards to health safety with players’ families and their boards and the local cricket association would give them an update on health threat perceptions. It would be easier said than done,” the official mentioned.Â
