ICC Men's T20 World Cup postponed; IPL to get window?

Dubai, July 20: The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Monday announced that the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia 2020 has been postponed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

 

 

 

The World Cup which was supposed to kick-start from October 18 to November 15 in Australia however will not take place due to the surge of COVID-19 cases in the country. The decision regarding this was taken by the IBC Board (the commercial subsidiary of the ICC) meeting today. It has created two windows to hold the postponed event.

 

 

On the other hand, the postponement can mean that there will be a window to stage the Indian Premier League (IPL) between October and November that is postponed due to the pandemic originally scheduled to begin in March. The IPL will be held likely in UAE.

 

The windows for the Men’s events are:

The IBC Board agreed to continue to monitor the rapidly changing situation and assess all the information available in order to make a considered decision on future hosts to ensure the sport is able to stage safe and successful global events in 2021 and 2022. The IBC Board will also continue to evaluate the situation in relation to being able to stage the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2021 in New Zealand in February next year. In the meantime, planning for this event continues as scheduled.

 

ICC Chief Executive Manu Sawhney said, "We have undertaken a comprehensive and complex contingency planning exercise and through this process, our number one priority has been to protect the health and safety of everyone involved in the sport.The decision to postpone the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup was taken after careful consideration of all of the options available to us and gives us the best possible opportunity of delivering two safe and successful T20 World Cups for fans around the world."

 

"Our Members now have the clarity they need around event windows to enable them to reschedule lost bilateral and domestic cricket. Moving the Men’s Cricket World Cup to a later window is a critical element of this and gives us a better chance of maintaining the integrity of the qualification process. This additional time will be used to reschedule games that might be lost because of the pandemic ensuring qualification can be decided on the field of play," he further added.

 

"Throughout this process we have worked closely with our key stakeholders including governments, Members, broadcasters, partners and medical experts to enable us to reach a collective decision for the good of the game and our fans. I would like to thank everyone involved for their commitment to a safe return to cricket."