BCCI awaits ICC’s verdict on 2020 World T20 from virtual meeting today
Image : Collected
|| Desk Report ||
As the International Cricket Council (ICC) board virtually meets today, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) would be hoping for a final decision in their favour regarding the upcoming edition of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020.
While Sourav Ganguly and his men are considering all possible scenarios to host the 13th edition of the IPL, it has widely been reported that the extravaganza will be held in the UAE from September to November.
But a lot has been said and written about how the BCCI is determined to host the IPL 2020 this year. The BCCI can only go ahead with the plan after a final decision on the future of 2020 World T20 by the ICC, whose verdict has been pending for the last two months.
A final decision is expected to happen when the ICC board meets virtually on Monday. The World T20, which was scheduled to be held in Australia from October 18 to November 15, in all likelihood would be postponed because of a surge in the number of COVID-19 cases.
Australia had said in May that it won’t be possible for them to host the tournament this year amid the grave concern of the highly contagious virus.
“The first step was postponement of the Asia Cup, which has happened. We can only start to move ahead with our plans after the ICC announces the postponement. They’ve been sitting on the decision even after Cricket Australia said that they are not too keen on hosting the event,” a BCCI Apex Council member told state-owned news agency.
After postponing the IPL schedule twice, BCCI president Ganguly had made it clear that the tournament would be hosted sometime later this year.
Meanwhile, the Asia Cup 2020- which was to be hosted by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), has also been postponed for 2021, a move which did not go down well with Ehsan Mani and his men.
“We’ve had a lot of discussions and the feeling is it (T20 World Cup) would not be possible this year. ICC has World Cups lined up in 2021 and 2023 so we'll have a gap year where we can adjust this event,” Mani had recently said while talking to reporters in his country.
If the 2020 World T20 is postponed, Australia will be able to host the showpiece event in 2022 as the BCCI is against the idea of swapping its 2021 hosting rights with Cricket Australia as of now.
